By TwoCircles.net Staff Reporter,
Hyderabad: Families of the five Muslim youths killed in an alleged encounter on Tuesday morning by Telangana police are left broken with the state of affairs. The disheartened family members claim that their children were killed in cold blood. In a press conference hurriedly called by lawyers of the deceased and their kin, they termed the police force as “single biggest enemy of Muslims”.
The five persons who lost their lives are Mohammed Viqaruddin, Mohammed Haneef, Amjed Ali, Riyaz Khan, all from Hyderabad and Izhar Khan from Uttar Pradesh. All of them were accused of forming a militant organization Tehreek-e-Galba-e-Islami and running a hit squad targeting police officers.
The accused were arrested in 2010 after a series of attacks on police in Hyderabad. They were shifted to Warangal Central Jail in 2011 on the pretext of creating nuisance in Cherlapally Jail in Hyderabad.
Alleged encounter occurred when deceased were being shifted to Hyderabad criminal court for trial. Policemen claimed to open fire when the accused tried to snatch a weapon from a policeman in the running vehicle between Aler and Jangaon, about 80 km from Hyderabad in an area bordering Warangal and Nalgonda districts.
Addressing a press conference immediately after the encounter at their lawyer’s office families raised many questions on the story of the police and stated that they had apprehension since the beginning that their children’s lives were in danger.
Mohammed Ahmed, father of Mohammed Vikaruddin, addressed the press conference in a dim voice, struggling to control the tears. “My son has been murdered. We demand a fair investigation into this horrifying killing,” he said.
One of the accused in #Viqarencounter in #Nalgonda shot dead while he was handcuffed. One picture worth 1000 words. pic.twitter.com/dPFJhNRM1b
— dinesh akula (@dineshakula) April 7, 2015
“I was confident my son, along with others, was going to get acquitted. The trial had reached its final stage. Police in desperation killed them all,” he alleged.
Vikar’s father said that he had given many representations to the authorities a number of times, expressing concern over threat to life of his son. “All of my representations went unanswered, even my son filed an affidavit in the court stating the same, but no one paid any heed to our pleadings,” a broken father told media persons.
“With a heavy heart I saw pictures of my dead son circulating in the media, he is handcuffed and soaked in blood. How can a man who is handcuffed to his chair become a threat to the life of other?” he questioned.
Imtiyaz Ali, brother of Amjed Ali, could not control his emotions. He hugged his lawyer twice, breaking down in tears before speaking a word with the media. In his broken voice, Imtiyaz said, “If my brother was guilty of crimes as police has accused him off, why didn’t they allow him to complete the trial and let the court decide his fate? Police killed him and others as they knew they were not guilty. Police didn’t work for justice they worked in vengeance. They had grudge against Muslims so they killed my brother and other four Muslim youths.”
“Telangana police has manifested their failure as a law enforcing agency by orchestrating this encounter murders,” Imtiyaz added.
Wives and children of Mohammed Haneef and Riyaz Khan were too shocked to attend the press conference. Izhar Khan’s family live in Uttar Pradesh, but are expected to arrive in Hyderabad soon.
Family members of the encounter victims made it clear that they will go to any extent for justice and made a unilateral statement that dead bodies will not be buried and there will be no Namaz-e-Janaza till Telangana Government orders a CBI enquiry. They are also planning to sit on a dharna along with the dead bodies.
Mohammed Viqaruddin, Mohammed Haneef, Amjed Ali, Riyaz Khan and Izhar Khan. All five killed in encounter.
Advocate of the victims of the ‘encounter’ informed TCN that Warangal jail authorities have contacted their family members and have asked them to collect the dead bodies. The primary demand of the families currently is that dead bodies should be allowed to be shifted to Hyderabad.
Further expressing their dismay on the reporting in some Telugu news channels, families of the victims appealed to the media not to blindly accept the police. “Don’t buy the police version on the face value to run it 24/7, vilifying our sons to put more salt on our deep wounds,” they said.
Related:
It’s not an encounter, its revenge killing by Telangana police: Advocate of the deceased