Firearms used by security personnel during the alleged encounter with Maoists in Odisha's Kandhamal district, in which five villagers were killed, will be tested in the State Forensic Laboratory.
Fifteen AK-47 rifles, several used bullets and clothes of those killed, which were seized by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the incident, were sent for forensic tests after being produced before the Sub-Divisional Judicial Magistrate (SDJM) in Baliguda, officials said today.
The bullets removed from the bodies of the injured and the deceased were also sent for laboratory test, they said, adding a two-member team of ballistic experts had visited the firing site on the request of the SIT.
Five persons, including two women and a child, were killed and three others injured during an alleged encounter with Maoists on July 8. While security forces claimed the villagers died when their vehicle was caught in the crossfire, many survivors alleged the bullets were raining from one side, probably from the jawans.
Under attack over the incident, the state government on July 12 ordered a SIT to probe into the incident under the supervision of Inspector General of Police (Human Rights Protection Cell) Mahendra Pratap.
