Hyderabad: Four persons arrested in connection with rape-and-murder of a woman veterinarian near here last month were killed in an encoun...
"The four accused were killed in an encounter with police," Cyberabad Police Commissioner V C Sajjanar said.
Two policemen were also injured in the incident, a senior police official said.
The men had been in police custody and were shot dead near the scene of last week’s crime where they tried to snatch the weapons of accompanying policemen, said N. Prakash Reddy, a deputy commissioner of police in Shamshabad, near Hyderabad.
Reddy said that the four men - two truck drivers and two truck cleaners, aged between 20 and 26 years - had been taken to the spot to re-construct the crime around 6 a.m. (0030 GMT)
“And there was a cross-fire. In this, all the four accused have died,” Reddy said. “Two policemen have been injured.”
No details were immediately available about how many police had escorted the four accused and whether they were handcuffed or roped together as is usually the case.
Earlier a local police official had put the time of the deaths at around 3:30 a.m. There was no immediate explanation for the discrepancy.
Indian police have frequently been accused of extra-judicial killings, called “encounters”, especially in gangland wars in Mumbai and insurrections in the state of Punjab and in disputed Kashmir. Police officers involved in such killings were called “encounter specialists” and were the subject of several movies.
During the past week, thousands of Indians have protested in several cities following the alleged rape and murder of the veterinarian.
The woman had left home for an appointment on her motor-scooter and later called her sister to say she had a flat tyre. She said a lorry driver had offered to help and that she was waiting near a toll plaza.
Police said she was abducted, raped and asphyxiated and her dead body then set alight on the outskirts of Hyderabad.
Her family welcomed the news of the killings of the alleged perpetrators.
“It has been 10 days to the day my daughter died. I express my gratitude towards the police & govt for this. My daughter’s soul must be at peace now,” Reuters partner ANI quoted her father as saying.
-Source: News Agency
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