The Hindu : Karnataka News : Encounter termed fake

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Feb 09, 2005

Karnataka

Karnataka

Encounter termed fake

By Our Staff Reporter

BANGALORE, FEB. 8. A complaint of culpable homicide will be filed against the State Police for killing Saketh Rajan and his associate in an encounter near Chikmagalur, said balladeer Gaddar and poet Varavara Rao.

Talking to presspersons here on Tuesday, Gaddar and Varavara Rao termed the encounter as fake. They said: "We will intensify protests against the police." Stating that the governments were crushing people's movement, they sought an inquiry by the National Human Rights Commission into the encounter.

Earlier, they staged a protest near the Kalpalli crematorium.

Saketh Rajan's mother, Rajalakshmi Sounderajan, who took part in the protest, said she had not permitted the police to cremate her son's body. "Are they my relatives to perform my son's last rites?" she asked. She said she had faxed a letter to the Chief Minister, N. Dharam Singh, requesting him to hand over the body of her son for performing the last rites.

However, the Director General and Inspector General of Police, S.N. Borkar, said there were no written requests seeking custody of the bodies.

Gaddar and Varavara Rao and members of the Citizens' Initiative for Peace will take out a procession from Basaveshwara Circle to the Chief Minister's residence on Wednesday.

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