State told to change investigation officer in Adapa Venkanna encounter

By S A Ishaqui
Hyderabad, Dec 2:Justice N.V. Ramana of the AP High Court on Thursday asked the special counsel representing the state government to change the investigation officer in the case of encounter killing of Adapa Venkanna, a notorious house burglar from Vijayawada.

The judge was dealing with a petition filed by Ms Adapa Mahalakshmi, wife of Venkanna, urging the court to direct the authorities to appoint an independent and impartial investigating agency to investigate the matter and book a case against the police officers responsible for the encounter under Section 302 IPC and pay a compensation of `50 lakhs to her and her children.

The judge told Mr N. Sridhar, special counsel for the government to get instructions from the authorities to spare a senior IPS officer to investigate the case and suggest three or four officers so that the court can choose from one of them to investigate the case.

Mr Sridhar told the court that Venkanna was involved in over 60 criminal cases and was killed when a police team returned fire in self defence near Pedapulipaka in Penamaluru mandal near Vijayawada in the coastal district on October 4 and the Nuzvid ASP is investigating the case at present. The judge sought the names of the officer by Friday.