It may be recalled that while nine persons died and several others injured in the bomb blast, five persons were killed and seven others were seriously injured when police opened fire on a mob that indulged in stone-pelting. The killings in police firings had sparked off a controversy with some Muslim organisations terming them cold-blooded murders. Video footage on TV channels had also clearly shown that the police, using self-loading rifles, had killed or injured several persons, including those who came to the rescue of the ones who fell to bullet injuries.
"The Government of Andhra Pradesh are of the opinion that it is necessary to appoint a Commission of Inquiry for the purpose of making an inquiry into a definite matter of public importance hereinafter specified. Now, therefore, in exercise of powers conferred by section 3 of the Commissions of Inquiry Act, 1952 (Central Act No.60 of 1952), the Government hereby appoint Justice V Bhaskara Rao, Retired Judge, High Court of A.P. as Commission of Inquiry to inquire into the incident that led to opening of fire by police on 18.05.2007 near Mecca Masjid, Hyderabad," according to the notification issued on Saturday and made public on Sunday night.
"The terms of reference of the Commission will be communicated separately. The Commission will hold its sittings at Hyderabad or at any other place as may be considered necessary by the Commission and will complete its inquiry and report to State Government within a period of three months from the date of assumption of charge," the notification pointed out.
The Special Branch of Hyderabad City Police and State Intelligence had submitted their preliminary reports to the government admitting that the police firing on May 18 was indiscriminate and unwarranted. These reports pointed out that policemen had trained their guns on a panic-stricken mob running away from the blast site. The post-mortem reports too indicated that the police firing was indiscriminate, resulting in the death of five persons. The bullets were fired from Self-Loading Rifles normally used in encounters with Maoists or terrorists.
The City Security Wing, in its report, stated that as many as 90 rounds were fired by the policemen. Six constables of the Quick Response Team of the City Police had fired 72 rounds, three constables of the City Armed Reserve had fired 11 rounds and three constables of the West and North Zone Task Force had fired seven rounds at Panch Mohalla and Charminar bus stop near Mecca Masjid. The policemen used six SLRs, four .303 rifles and two pistols. Director-General of Police M A Basith landed in a controversy by claiming at a media conference on May 18 that the police had fired only rubber bullets and no one was killed in the police firing.
City Police Commissioner Balwinder Singh issued charge memos to four inspectors ---E Ramachandra Reddy (Moghulpura), P Sudhakar (Falaknuma), M Kistaiah (Hussaini Alam) and P R Kosalram (Charminar)for keeping their superiors in the dark for two hours about the police firing after the Mecca Masjid blast on May 18. Due to their lapse, the DGP and Home Minister K Jana Reddy were caught off-guard on the police firing issue even as the TV channels showed live footage of persons getting killed or injured in the firing. Later, Moghulpura and Falaknuma inspectors were transferred to the Police Control Room.
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