Telangana High Court to hold emergency hearing into encounter deaths

The Telangana High Court has ordered an autopsy of the bodies of the four men accused of raping and murdering a 27-year-old veterinarian. The accused were killed by the police on Friday. Their bodies will be preserved until Monday.

Police claim the accused had attacked a team of investigators and snatched their weapons on Friday. This was when they were brought to the crime scene near Hyderabad. The police said the men were killed in the crossfire.

The court has asked that the autopsies of the accused be recorded on video. This will have to be submitted to the court. The court will hear the case on Monday morning.

On 27 November, the accused saw the victim park her scooter near a toll booth. They allegedly deflated her scooter tyre and offered to help fix it. Then they raped her, strangled her and burnt her body to destroy evidence, allege the police.

Mixed reactions

Several celebrities and politicians have praised the police. Many have sounded caution on the controversial shooting. The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) will send a team to Telangana to investigate the matter.

The Telangana police claim that the four men were suspected of being involved in similar crimes in other states.

We have done DNA profiling of the victim and of all the accused and have collected scientific data and evidence. Further, we are collecting data from Karnataka, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh about the missing and burnt bodies of women. Once the data comes, we will analyse it about their involvement. We suspect that the accused were involved in other such cases across these states. – VC Sajjanar, Cyberabad Police Commissioner

He also said that the law has done its duty. The woman’s father has told the media that he is happy. “I express my gratitude towards the police and the government for this. My daughter’s soul must be at peace now.”