Three witnesses from the controversial red sanders shootout in Seshachalam forests of Andhra Pradesh depose in front of the NHRC.

Death was lying in wait for Mahendrun. He had no inkling of it.

He was happy when he left his village Pudur Kollamedu in Tiruvannamalai district of Tamil Nadu on 6 April, 2015 to work as a construction labourer in Chennai. He had got a job and he was with the people he knew. His happiness met an abrupt end in the Seshachalam forests on the outskirts of Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh. He along with 19 others was allegedly shot dead by trigger-happy personnel of a Special Task Force (STF) comprising police and forest officials from Andhra Pradesh.

Recounting the day, Sekar, Mahendrun's relative and neighbour who was accompanying him with two other men, Murthy and Munusamy, said he was lucky to survive. He recorded his statement before the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Monday morning in Delhi. Two other survivors, Balachandran and Illagovan, also recorded their account of the day of the incident.

According to Sekar, who along with Mahendrun, Murthy and Munusamy was going to Chennai to work as a construction worker outside their village, on 6 April at around 2.30pm after the bus crossed the Arcot bus station, a man in a mufti boarded the bus and asked Mahendrun, who was seated behind Sekar, to alight the bus. The man, according to Sekar, was about 30, sported a thick moustache, had closely cropped hair and was of medium height.

When Mahendrun asked him to reveal his identity, the man aggressively caught hold of Mahendran and forced him out of the bus.

Alarmed and afraid, Sekar remained silent. After a while he discreetly looked behind and found Murthy and Munusamy missing too. He got off the bus at the next stop and made his way back home with great difficulty as he had only Rs 90 in his pocket.

The next day at 7:30 pm, some policemen came to Sekar's village, showed him Mahendrun's photograph and told him that he had been shot dead in a forest in Tirupati. He later learnt that Murthy and Munasamy were also gunned down.

Balachandran, the second witness who survived the killing but lost his father, told the NHRC that he got a call from Palani, who is a contractor agent and had helped him with a job on 4 April. He was told by the agent that there was a job opportunity in Pondicherry. He was asked by the agent to bring some more men with him and reach Alagayam on 5 April.

As asked, Balachandran with eight other men, which included his father, Harikrishnan, reached Alagayam by night and met Palani. The nine labourers were taken to Nambiyampattu. They were made to stay in a woman's house. The next morning, another man, who was known to the agent, joined the labourers. While waiting for the bus to Arcot, Balachandran and the man who joined the group in the morning went to a TASMAC (government liquor shop) outlet to have drinks. When they came back to the bus stop, Balachandran said that Palani and the rest of the labourers were missing.

When contacted, Palani told the duo to come to two different places. Balachandran and the other man eventually reached Nagari Puthur later that night. Through the journey, the latter was constantly in touch with Palani. After reaching Nagari Puthur, he called Palani again and told Balachandran that Palani has been arrested and therefore, they should go back, otherwise, the police may arrest them too.

Since Balachandran was worried about the safety and security of his father and other labourers, he called one of the labourers in the group -- Sivakumar -- but an unknown person answered the call and said, "Your men are here. Come to Tirupati immediately." Before Balachandran could say anything, the man on the other end disconnected the call.

On his way back to his village, Balachandran learnt that a few men were killed by the STF near Tirupati. After inquiring, he came to know those who were killed were no other than the rest of the seven labourers and his father.

The third witness – Illangovan - could not come to Delhi to testify before the NHRC but his statements were shared with the media. The rights body has appointed an officer to visit his village and record his statement.

According to his statement, on 6 April, the daily wage labourer was on way to find masonry work outside his village along with Panneerselvam, who is also from his village Malakanavayoor. At around 8 pm, when the two men got off at Nagari Puthur to eat something, they caught sight of two armed men. Panneerselvam sensed something was wrong. They got into an auto but within a few seconds, the vehicle was surrounded by around eight plain clothed men carrying pistols. They started interrogating them. "We truthfully replied saying they were on their way to find coolie (porter) work," Illavogan said in the statement.

The duo was forcibly pulled out of the auto and made to stand while the plain clothed men spoke over phone. In few minutes, a large open lorry carrying around 30-odd people arrived at there. Illangovan and Panneerselvam were also asked to board the lorry.

According to Illangovan's statement, around 10 armed men, who appeared to be policemen, surrounded them in the lorry. Illangovan could not see their faces as it was dark. After sometime, the lorry stopped at the Rangers Office in Kezthirupathy after which the labourers were photographed.

As there were too many labourers who were getting in and out, the policemen were not too alert and taking advantage of the situation, Illangovan managed to jump out of the vehicle and slip into the dark forest. It was around 4 am.

Illangovan was not only petrified but also weak and exhausted because he had not eaten anything. He cautiously made way towards the main road. Around 8 am, he managed to find two persons on a bike on the main road and requested them for a lift. He returned to his village and shared the ordeal he had been through with his parents. The same night, the body of his friend Panneerselvam also reached the village.

While recording their statements at the NHRC, the three witnesses-survivors were accompanied by Henri Tiphagne of the People’s Watch, a team of Tamil Nadu-based rights activists who conducted a fact finding in the incident, and Supreme Court advocate Vrinda Grover.

"Our team informed the governments and officials of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu of the facts and visited the site of the alleged encounter, the police stations concerned, hospitals and postmortem centres as well as the villages that the deceased belonged to. We met with the victims' family members," said Henri adding, "It was during this mission that we were able to identify and communicate with the three survivors who witnessed the killings."

"The survivors have recorded their statements at grave personal risk to seek justice. They survived due to sheer providence and luck or their corpses would have been among those lying in the Seshachalam forest," he further added.

Reacting sharply to the incident, advocate Vrinda Grover said, "Such brazen and arbitrary killings under the guise of an 'encounter' calls for an urgent investigation that is independent and credible in order to dislodge the long history of impunity enjoyed by the police."

She said unless accountability is secured and the perpetrators punished, such "extrajudicial killings" will continue. "A SIT comprising high-level police officials who inspire confidence, monitored by the Supreme Court, should be assigned the investigation of these killings to ensure that justice is done for the victims and the right to life of the citizens is protected. Investigation under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code for murder to be initiated against members of the STF. And the investigation should probe the role of senior police officials in planning, masterminding and directing these killings," she demanded.

Meanwhile, the NHRC has taken suo motu cognizance of the alleged encounter and a full commission heard the survivors and the complaint filed by People’s Watch.

A high-level team comprising Justice (retired) Suresh Hosbet, former NHRC member Satyabrata Pal and ex-BSF DGP EN Rammohan and others, in the course of fact-finding, will meet the officials concerned in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu on 15 April, visit the spot of the incident and villages of the deceased and meet the survivors.

They will present an interim report on 15 April in Vellore. Their final report will be submitted to the NHRC during its hearing on 23 April in Hyderabad.