NHRC to conduct spot inquiry, orders probe
NL Correspondnet
Hyderabad, December 6
All four suspects in the gang-rape and murder of a veterinarian in Telangana have been killed in an encounter with the police.
The police said the four suspects, aged between 20 and 24, had been taken to the spot of the crime for recreation of the crime scene when they tried to escape and were shot.
Locals had on Thursday demolished the wall behind which the crime was committed.
Telangana Police had secured the suspects' remand on Thursday for a week on the ground that they needed to reconstruct the crime scene.
Keeping in view the public outrage, the suspects were earlier kept in a local jail so that people did not lynch them.
Cyberabad Police Commissioner VC Sajjanar said at a press conference later in the evening that his men resorted to “retaliatory” firing after two of the accused opened fire at police after “snatching” weapons from them.
He said one of the accused, Mohammed Arif, was the first to open fire, even as the 10-member police team that took them to the crime scene were attacked with stones and sticks.
The police returned fire after initial “restraint” and asking the accused to surrender, he said.
The snatched weapons were in “unlocked” position, he added.
The accused were not handcuffed when the firing took place and the incident happened between 5.45 am and 6.15 am this morning, he said.
A police sub-inspector and a constable suffered head injuries and were undergoing treatment, he said.
“Even though our officers maintained restraint and asked them to surrender, without listening to us, they continued to fire and attack…our people started retaliation. And in that retaliation four accused got killed,” he added.
The encounter took place on NH 44, very close to the place where the four men raped the 26-year-old veterinary doctor.
Two of the four worked as truck drivers and two were cleaners. All were in their twenties.
The vet was brutally gang-raped and killed by the four before they burnt her body in the Shamshabad area, close to Hyderabad airport on November 27.
The four were in judicial custody at Cherlapally Central Jail in Hyderabad and were handed over in police remand last evening.
The four accused, Mohammed Ali alias Arif, J Naveen, J Shiva and Chennakeshavulu, were kept in separate high-security cells, meant to house those accused in terror cases, before being handed over to the police.
It has been learnt that the National Human Rights Commission will conduct a spot inquiry into the deaths. As per reports, all four accused were taken to the scene of the crime around 60 km from Hyderabad for a re-construction as part of the investigation. Reportedly, as per police version, one of them signalled to the others, possibly to escape and they tried to snatch weapons from the police personnel when the police fired on them and they died allegedly in cross-firing.
The Commission is of the opinion that this matter is required to be probed very carefully. Accordingly, it has asked its Director General (Investigation) to immediately send a team for fact-finding on the spot investigation into the matter. The team of the Investigation Division of the Commission headed by an SSP is expected to leave immediately and submit their report, at the earliest.
The Commission has already taken cognizance of the increasing cases of rapes and sexual assault on women across the country and a detailed report has been called for from all State governments and police heads as well as from the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development. A number of such cases including the Telangana case had forced the Commission to intervene into the matter.
When he was asked to respond to the growing criticism the force was facing over the incident, the Cyberabad Police Commissioner said: “I can only say that law has done its duty”.
When asked about NHRC taking cognizance of the incident, he said: “We will answer to whoever takes cognizance, the state government, NHRC, to all concerned (sic)”. (agencies)
