Salem (TN): Raising suspicions over the "encounter" death of forest brigand Veerappan, a 19-member fact finding team of human rights activists, today (Oct 27, 2004) called it "fake" and demanded a judicial probe into the matter.

"From the circumstances and the statements of the people within the vicinity of the site of the encounter, it appears that it is a fake encounter," a preliminary report of the team, released at a press conference in Salem by Prof S Seshiah of the People's Democratic Forum, Karnataka, said.

The team, which claimed to have independently inquired into the killing, demanded a fresh post-mortem of Veerappan's body by forensic experts from outside Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, an immediate joint statement by both the State Governments and withdrawal of rewards to the STF personnel.

The report charged most officials, including STF joint commander K Vijayakumar, with not cooperating with their efforts to gather information to verify the STF's version of the Oct 18 killing of Veerapan and three of his accomplices.

The team members visited the site of the "encounter" and nearby areas and also interacted with Veerappan's wife Muthulakshmi, the mother of Chandre Gowda and others and District Collector Aziz Vachani and SP, T Rajendran.

It said the bodies were kept covered upto the neck and close relatives were prevented from removing the covers which "may be to hide the marks of torture and injuries on bodies".

The STF "vehemently opposed burying the body and even kept ready the pyre for cremation. It seems by cremation the STF intended to destroy all the evidence of torture".