In a dramatic twist in the case of
the inhuman and heinous gang-rape, murder and setting ablaze of 26-year-old veterinary doctor Disha on the outskirts of Hyderabad recently, all the four accused were killed in an encounter with the police in Shadnagar early this morning.
The accused in the case - Mohd Arif, Bollu Shiva, Chenna Kesavulu and Naveen Kumar - were taken by the investigating officers for a scene reconstruction to the Tondupally toll gate in the early hours, at around 1 am.
From there they were taken to the Chattanpally under-bridge where the accused allegedly set Disha ablaze and dumped her body.
While the cops were inspecting the scene of the offence, the accused allegedly tried to snatch guns from the police and escape. The police said that the main accused Mohd Arif allegedly signaled to his co-accused to escape even as he and another accused Chennakesvalu tried to snatch a rifle and attacked the police with stones.
Even before the "stunned" police could recover, the accused reportedly started fleeing into the fields while continuing to hurl stones.
They were then killed when the police reportedly fired at them in "self-defence" from some 100 meters away from the under-bridge.
The encounter of the rapists spread like wild-fire and hundreds of people gathered in the area and raised slogans appreciating the police for their action. They loudly hailed the Telangana police and Cyberabad Police Commissioner V C Sajjanar.
Some of them said that the police had delivered instant justice by eliminating the perpetrators of the gruesome crime. They were seen showering flower petals on the police officials and distributing sweets.
In many parts of the two Telugu States, people, especially girl students and women, burst crackers and danced to drumbeats.
Ironically, the same police who a week ago came in for severe criticism from all over the nation, including in Parliament, for their alleged inaction in responding to the victim's family's plea in registering a case were today hailed and appreciated for their action as superheroes for "delivering instant justice" to the victim and her family.
After a panchanama at the encounter spot, the bodies of the four rapists were sent to the Mahabubnagar Hospital for a post-mortem.