Indian police shot dead four men on Friday who were suspected of raping and killing a 27-year-old veterinarian in the city of Hyderabad, a police official told Reuters, drawing applause from her family and citizens outraged over crimes against women.
The men had been in police custody and were shot near the scene of last week’s crime, said N Prakash Reddy, a deputy commissioner of police in Shamshabad, near Hyderabad.
“In the morning, at around 6-6.30, our persons have come to reconstruct the scene of crime and the accused have tried to snatch their weapons, and there was a cross-fire. In this, all the four accused have died. Two policemen have been injured,” Reddy said.
Hyderabad: Spot where accused in the rape and murder of the woman veterinarian were killed in an encounter earlier today by Police. Bodies still at the spot, will be shifted for post mortem shortly. #Telangana (pic source: Police)
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. (2200 GMT Thursday). 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 Punjab and Kashmir. Top police officers involved in such killings were called “encounter specialists” and were the subject of several movies.
