Wednesday, July 26 2006 12:53 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Hyderabad: The bodies of all eight Maoists gunned down by police three days ago in an Andhra Pradesh forest were Wednesday taken to Guntur town for autopsy following a direction by the high court.

Police shifted the bodies from Prakasam district to the Guntur Medical College under tight security arrangements around the complex. The shops in the area also remained closed following the imposition of prohibitory orders.

The high court on a petition by the Andhra Pradesh Civil Liberties Committee (APCLC) had directed that the entire autopsy be video-filmed and sent to the court after sealing the cassette in the presence of a district judge.

The APCLC had voiced its doubts that the police could fudge the autopsy report to suppress facts about the cause of the deaths. Some civil liberties activists alleged that police poisoned the Maoists before gunning them down.

The APCLC has sought a judicial probe into the incident. It has also demanded that the policemen involved in the incident be booked for murder.

The relatives are fuming at the delay in the bodies being handed over.

Revolutionary balladeer Gaddar alleged that the government was not giving due respect to the deceased. He also demanded that the relatives be allowed to take out a funeral procession.

Police are keeping a tight vigil to foil any attempts by Maoist sympathisers to take out any procession.

Civil liberties activists have demanded that all the bodies be brought to the outskirts of Hyderabad, where the houses of two women cadres killed in Sunday's incident are located.

The Maoists, including chief of the state unit of Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) Madhav, were gunned down in Nallamalla forests in Prakasam district.