Hyderabad encounter: Accused attacked us with stones, snatched our guns; says Cyberabad police
Cyberabad police commissioner VC Sajjanar in a media briefing recounted the encounter that took place in the wee hours of Friday killing all the four accused in the rape-murder of 26-year-old woman veterinarian. Addressing the media, the Cyberabad Police Commissioner said that the accused first attacked the police with sticks, which was followed by snatching away their weapons from the personnel and resorting to open firing on them. The police said that they warned the accused and asked them to surrender but they continued to fire. "Then we opened fire and they were killed in the encounter. During encounter, two police men have been injured and they have been shifted to the local hospital."
He further said that there were around 10 police with the accused persons during the time of encounter. "We have recovered the victim's cell phone here at the spot."
Sajjanar said that the police had also seized two weapons from the accused persons. The body of accused have been shifted to local govt hospital for PME.
"The four accused had been in police custody for 10 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 attacked us using stones and managed to snatch our guns. You can see that the accused are still lying there with the guns. As a result we had to engage in an encounter with them in which they were shot dead," Sajjanar said.
When asked for a reaction on the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) taking cognizance of the encounter, Sajjanar said, "We will answer to whoever takes cognizance, the state govt, NHRC, to all concerned."
On November 27, the men, all truck-drivers and cleaners, saw the 27-year-old woman park her scooter near a toll-booth on a busy highway. They deflated the tyre of her scooter. When she returned from a dermatology appointment, they offered her help and offered to fix her scooter. Later on they dragged her then gang-raped her, strangled her and burnt her body to destroy evidence.
The Hyderabad Police is being lauded by a large section of people after the news of killing of four accused persons in the Hyderabad rape and murder came to light. However, just until hours before the alleged encounter, the police force was also facing flak for failing to fulfill its duties on the day the crime was committed.
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