The Supreme Court on Thursday ordered a three-member judicial inquiry into the Telengana Encounter case which is to be headed by former SC judge VS Sirpurkar.

The three-member team will consist of former Bombay High Court judge Rekha Baldota and former CBI chief B Kartikeyan headed by VS Sirpurkar. 

The Supreme Court also stated that no other court or authority shall inquire into this matter until further orders of this court. The Supreme Court's orders effectively stay proceedings in the Telangana High Court and the inquiry conducted by the National Human Rights Commission on the matter.

"Encounter case has been posted for tomorrow by High Court Chief Justice Bench till clarity comes from SC order. The court said the four bodies should be preserved till tomorrow, 2.30pm," Sandhya Rani, a petitioner in the Telangana High court said.

The apex court bench headed by CJI SA Bobde also said that the inquiry needs to be completed in six months. The Supreme Court also issued a notice prohibiting the media from publishing judicial commission proceedings.

Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the Cyberbad Police, said that the four accused in the rape case tried to snatch revolvers from the police and pelted stones at them, to which the police opened retaliatory fire in self-defence after they were taken to the spot by the police where the crime took place. He also said that the state government is likely to conduct an independent inquiry into the killings.

Responding to Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi, Chief Justice Bobde said, "If you say you're going to prosecute them (policemen involved in encounter) in criminal court, there is nothing for us to do. But if you say they're innocent then people must know the truth. We don't want to assume facts. Let there be inquiry, why are you resistant to that?"

The Supreme Court was hearing two petitions filed by advocates GS Mani and Manohar Lal Sharma today. Earlier this week, petitioner GS Mani had filed a plea in the top court, asking an urgent hearing on the legality of the encounter. He also sought registration of an FIR against the cops present during the encounter, saying that the SC guidelines, issued in 2014, were not followed. Another petition was filed by advocate Manohar Lal Sharma, that sought the formation of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the incident. 

A woman veterinary doctor's burnt body was found in the Ranga Reddy district on November 28 and a case under the relevant sections was registered by the state police. After initial investigations, the police suspected that she was sexually assaulted before being charred to death.

The Cyberabad police had arrested four people in connection with the case and a local court on the following day sent them to a 14-day judicial remand. The accused had been identified as Mohammad Areef, Jollu Shiva, Jollu Naveen and Chintakunta Chennakeshavulu. All the four accused confessed to the crime.

On December 6, the Cyberabad police took the four persons accused of raping and burning the body of a woman to the scene of the crime for reconstruction as part of the investigation. The Police Commissioner said the accused snatched their weapons and fired on police and hence, in self-defence, the police fired back, in which the accused were killed.

"The four accused had been in police custody for ten days. We had interrogated all of them. When they confessed to the crime, we took them to the site where the incident occurred to reconstruct the scene. When we reached the spot, the accused managed to snatch our guns and attacked us. You can see that the accused are still lying there with the weapons. As a result, we had to engage in an encounter with them in which they were shot dead," Police Commissioner VC Sajjanar said during a press conference.