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NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday directed the Chhattisgarh police to preserve the body of top Maoist commander Katha Ramchandra Reddy, who was killed in an alleged fake encounter in Narayanpur district.A bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and AG Masih said the body should not be cremated or buried until the Chhattisgarh high court decides on the plea alleging fake encounter and torture.”Till such time the high court decides the petition, the body shall not be cremated/buried,” the bench ordered, requesting the high court to hear the case after reopening from the Durga Puja vacation.The bench clarified that it was leaving all issues open and not expressing any opinion on the merits of the case.Senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, appearing for petitioner Raja Chandra, submitted that his father was allegedly tortured and killed in a fake encounter, and that the police were attempting to dispose of the body.Solicitor general Tushar Mehta, representing the state police, said that two persons were killed in the encounter and that the petitioner’s father had a bounty of Rs 7 crore announced by seven states. He informed the court that the body of one Maoist killed in the same encounter had already been given to his family and cremated, while the body of the petitioner’s father remained in the hospital. Mehta added that the postmortem was video-recorded and that no malafide could be attributed to the police.The bench noted that the plea sought an independent investigation into the alleged fake encounter, preferably by the CBI, excluding officers from Chhattisgarh, as well as a fresh postmortem.It also recorded that the petitioner had first approached the high court but the matter could not be listed urgently due to the court’s vacation, leading him to approach the Supreme Court.The bench disposed of the petition with the directions to preserve the body.The plea, filed through advocate Satya Mitra, raised concerns over the alleged fake encounter and killing of Katha Ramchandra Reddy.Petitioner Raja Chandra, a researcher at NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad, had sought directions to keep the body in a government morgue, conduct a postmortem, and order a CBI probe by officers from outside Chhattisgarh.Both Katha Ramchandra Reddy and Kadari Satyanarayana Reddy were killed in the encounter on September 22.
