The court directed petitioner IIlamma to collect the body of her husband Mallaiah, by 12 noon on Friday, in the presence of her counsels and two other persons.
Further, the judge directed the SHO of Eturunagaram to forward the videos and photographs of the postmortem, inquest and other relevant material to the investigating officer V. Ravinder Reddy, SDPO, Manuguru for further investigation.
On December 3, 2024 when the writ petition was heard by Justice B. Vijaysen Reddy, the counsel for the petitioner insisted upon the judge to issue a direction to “preserve” the body of Mallaiah alleging that she could identify 11 injuries on the body of her deceased husband.
When the matter was heard on Thursday, the government counsel for home Mahesh Raje informed the court that the PME has been conducted by a team of doctors and opposed the plea of the petitioner for preserving the remaining one body on the ground that as time passes the bodies will get decomposed and the injuries, if any on the bodies, will enlarge, leading to further decomposition and decay of the bodies.
Further, Mahesh Raje informed the court that the PME is awaited and the investigation will go on. In these circumstances, he requested the court to hand over the body of Mallaiah to his wife to avoid further decay and decomposition of the body.
Suresh Kumar and Dasharatha submitted that the prosecution has not submitted the postmortem report or the inquest report. They requested for a judicial inquiry into the alleged encounter.
Justice Reddy responded that the primary concern should be the deceased’s body, while other matters would be discussed later.
Petitioner’s lawyer argued that Illamma was not allowed to take photographs or videos of the deceased and it would be difficult to file an affidavit detailing all the injuries, which were not solely caused by a gunshot.
They stated that there were 11 injuries on the body, but only one bullet wound. They insisted on a judicial inquiry into these extrajudicial killings.
The judge, after hearing the contentions of the government counsel and the counsel for the petitioner, observed that the PME has been conducted by expert doctors and the PME report is awaited and the investigation will throw light on the aspersions of the petitioner and said that the remaining body should be handed over to the petitioner.
