APFSL ballistic experts say Azad was shot from distance

By U Sudhakar Reddy

 AP Forensic Science Laboratory ballistic experts submitted a report stating that Maoist former spokesperson Azad alias

Cherukuri Raj Kumar was shot dead from a distance and not close range. The report came in handy for the State cops who are facing the allegations of staged encounter. APFSL director Mr O N Murthy said ,"we have given the report. The ballistic expert report says that the bullet was fired from distance and not point blank,"

 Earlier Osmania Medical College Forensic Medicine department team has given similar report based on the examination done on the body. Azad was shot dead in the forest area in Adilabad. A bullet pierced through the upper left side of Azad's chest, making an oval shaped 1-cm hole. The bullet exited from the rear left side of the back, leaving behind a roughly 3-cm exit wound. A senior police official said ,"both the reports proved that Azad was shot from a distance and it is not a stage managed encounter. People who are demanding judicial inquiry into the killing has to rethink after seeing these reports,"  The findings of ballistic experts tallied with that of forensic doctors.

Several rights organisations, Swami Agnivesh and Union Railway Minister Ms Mamata Benerjee have been demanding judicial probe into Azad's killing alleging that it is staged managed encounter.