INDIA: Suspicious death of Veerapan and three others by Special Task Force without following proper investigation procedure

Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from People’s Watch-Tamil Nadu, a local human rights organization, regarding the suspicious deaths of Mr. Veerapan and his three associates by Special Task Force (STF) officers during an encounter on the night of 18 October 2004. 

Although STF claimed that all of the men were killed during this encounter, evidence reveals irregularities of the encounter, and indicates that the killings of Mr. Veerapan and his three associates, might in fact constitute extra-judicial killings. Up to now, no serious investigation into the nature of the killings has been taken. In particular, it was reported that during the procedure of the post-mortem, the doctors were forced to conduct the examinations on the men’s bodies in the presence of the police and STF officers who were involved in the encounter on October 18. 

It is a fundamental principle of law that if any person commits a crime, he/she should be arrested and prosecuted by the criminal justice system in their country in any circumstances including armed conflict.

Your urgent action is required to pressure the local authorities to conduct a thorough and impartial investigation into this matter. Please also call for the National Human Rights Commission of India to initiate an inquiry into this incident in accordance with section (d) and section (g) of the guidelines of National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), which states “Magisterial Inquiry must invariably be held in all cases of death which occur in the course of police action.”

Urgent Appeals Desk
Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)
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DETAILED INFORMATION:

Mr. Veerapan (approximately 61 years old), known as forest brigand, and his three associates were killed by members of the Joint Special Task Force (STF) of Tamil Nadu state and Karnataka state, allegedly while being taken into custody between 10:50pm and 11:10pm on the night of 18 October 2004. Through the limited information that was revealed by the STF and police, it is suspected that a grave abuse of police power has occurred in these deaths: a deliberate and premeditated extra-judicial killing. Questions raised by a local human rights group are below.

Firstly, according to the account of the Chief of the STF, Mr. K. Vijayakumar, delivered to the press on October 19, a policeman disguised as a driver picked up Mr. Veerapan and three members of his gang in an ambulance acquired by STF. The undercover officer then drove the vehicle to a pre-established location where 35 STF officers waited in hiding, turned off the engine, and abandoned the vehicle, leaving the wanted men seated in the back. Subsequently, the police ordered Mr. Veerapan and his men to surrender and identify themselves. When they received no response, they repeated their warning, at which point the men inside allegedly opened fire, shooting blindly through the sides of the ambulance. Police responded with stun grenades and gun fire in a confrontation that lasted approximately 20 minutes. When the shooting finally stopped, according the STF accounts, two of the criminals had been killed, including Mr. Veerapan, and the other two died on their way to the hospital. 

However, this account of the incident directly contradicts an earlier statement Mr. K. Vijayakumar gave to members of the press on the night of the encounter. At that time, he alleged that police had been tripped off that Mr. Veerapan was traveling by jeep through the area between Papparapatti and Dharmapuri. When STF stationed in the area spotted the jeep and tried to stop it, Mr. Veerapan and his gang opened fire. The police retaliated, killing all four assailants. This was the version of events that appeared in newspaper accounts on the morning of the October 19, the same time that STF Chief Vijayakumar delivered a completely different account to members of the press.

Secondly, in the words of Chief Vijayakumar, the final confrontation with Mr. Veerapan was not a chance encounter but the result of a carefully planned operation. “We chose our time and place for this operation,” he told reporters, “and that led to the proper conclusion”. His statement regarding the encounter connoted Mr. Veerapan’s death as the intended outcome of the operation, rather than his arrest and prosecution by the criminal justice system, which is the right of every citizen, regardless of the crimes he/she has committed.

Thirdly, they numbered 35 to the gang’s four, and concealed themselves in secure positions on higher ground, such as the roof of a nearby school building, where they waited to state their ambush. Surrounding the pre-selected location, they also benefited from the element of surprise. Taking into account all of these advantages, it is hard to understand how an exchange between such disproportionately matched forces could have lasted twenty minutes, as Chief Vijayakumar suggested. 

Fourthly, if the STF story of the encounter is true, then the configuration of bullet holes in the ambulance where Mr. Veerapan and his men were trapped should corroborate police descriptions of hostile fire. However, none of the outgoing bullet holes in either side of the van reveal the spraying pattern which would have been left by a Ramington pump action gun, which police claim the bandits used in their resistance. Unfortunately, the ambulance was revealed only momentarily to the media before it was covered by police with a large blacktarp. Journalists were not allowed to observe the interior of the vehicle, and the rear windows were covered with screens that obstructed visibility. To date, no serious investigation into the nature of the crime scene, from the condition of the ambulance to the distribution of shells and bullets, has been taken. 

Fifth, when it came time to conduct the compulsory post-mortem report on the bodies of Mr. Veerapan and his associates, the doctors were forced to conduct their examinations in the presence of the STF officers. Further compromising the independence of the medical examiners, several STF officers descened upon the hospital where the post-mortem was taking place to see the body of Mr. Veerapan, nearly erupting into a riot at one point when they were denied access to the body during the procedure. After the hasty post-mortem, two of the bodies were cremated on the following morning and the body of Veerapan was buried beneath the ground before an independent medical examination could be conducted. 

Sixth, according to Mr. Jothi Prakash Mirzi’s account, the head of STF Karnataka and second highest-ranking officer in the operation, different from Chief Vijayakumar’s version, the STF first three a grenade at the ambulance, which was abandoned by the driver and stopped in the middle of the road. When the grenade failed to inflict major damage on the vehicle, the police opened fire indiscriminately on its occupants. Only then, did Mr. Veerapan and his associates began to shoot back. This account make no mention of offer to surrender of attempts to arrest the culprits, suggesting blatant violations of the rules of engagement and clear abuses of police power.

All of these doubts point to a general lack of consistency that deserves the investigation required by National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) guidelines stipulated in the Section (d) that “Magisterial Inquiry must invariably be held in all cases of death which occur in the course of police action.“

The AHRC is gravely concerned about these alleged extra-judicial killing of four persons by the STF. Besides, local human rights groups have reported 700 cases of illegal arrest, torture, rape and extra-judicial killings against civilians by the STF in the area in the process of extracting information on Mr. Veerapan’s whereabouts for more than a decade. The AHRC urges the government of India to throughly investigate the death of the four persons above and the abuse of police authority against the villagers in the area.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: 

On October 30, Tamil Nadu state government rewarded and promoted its 752 STF officers on the contrary of Karnataka state government, which contravenes Section (g) of the NHRC’s guidelines which specify in full: “No out-of-turn promotion or instant gallantry rewards shall be bestowed on the concerned officers soon after the occurrence. It must be ensured at all costs that such rewards are given/recommended only when the gallantry of the concerned officer is established beyond doubt.” 

Meantime, there have been no investigation launched retarding four cases of death which took place by state agencies during the encounters in violation of the NHRC guidelines. Those cases are; 1) Murugan, Krishnan and Govindan were shot dead on 21 November 2002, 2) Rajaram and Kumar Saravanan were shot dead on 25 March 2003, 3) Veeramani was shot dead on 27 July 2003, 4) Venkatesa Pannaiyar was shot dead on 26 September 2003.

In addition, there are pending complaints about abuses by STF including acts of torture, custodial rape, illegal detention, disappearance and custodial death. (Case No. 222/10/97-98, Case No. 534/22/97-98, Case No. 795/22/97-98, Case No. 249/10/97-98, Case No. 79/10/99-2000). These cases have been exhaustively documented by the Sadhasiva Committee of Enjuiry, constituted by the Hon’ble Commission for this specific purpose, but have still to be made public.

According to the NGOs that performed door-to-door fact-finding missions in the vicinity of the villages where Mr. Veerapan hid over the past several years, even though there are about seven hundred victims (approximately 570 men, 130 women) by many of STF officers responsible for systematic abuses of police authority, no serious investigation has been taken. STF used its power to extract information regarding Mr. Veerapan’s whereabouts. The victims were accused of being associates, collaborators, supporters, or informants for Mr. Veerapan and were thus subjected to illegal detention, torture, custodial rape, custodial death, and disappearances beginning in 1993. 

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