The Telangana High Court has stepped into the row over killing of the four accused in the gangrape and murder of a woman veterinarian in an encounter with police on Friday morning, and directed the state government to preserve their bodies till 8 pm on December 9. The court gave the order on a representation received in the office of the chief justice, requesting its intervention into the incident.
The court also ordered that the video of the post-mortem in a compact disc or pen-drive should be handed over to Principal District Judge, Mahabubnagar.
“Principal District Judge, Mahabubnagar, is directed to receive the same and hand it over to the Registrar General of the High Court of Telangana by tomorrow evening,” reads the order.
Meanwhile, the advocate general of Telangana informed the High Court that the post-mortem of the four accused is being done at the government district hospital at Mahaboobnagar under the supervision of the Superintendent of Hospital. He also said that the post-mortem is being video-graphed.
The pre-dawn encounter has evoked praise but also sparked concerns over extra-judicial killings.
Police said the accused, lorry workers aged between 20 and 26, were killed during an exchange of fire that took place between 5.45 am and 6.15 am when they were taken by a 10-member team to the scene of the crime at Chattanpalli, 50 km near here, from an undisclosed location for a reconstruction of events as part of the investigation.
Prime accused Mohammed Arif(26), Chennakeshavulu, Jollu Shiva and Jollu Navin(all 20 years) were not handcuffed at the time of the incident, police said.
The four men were arrested on November 29 for allegedly raping and killing the 25-year-old veterinary doctor by smothering her and later burning her body, an incident that led to widespread outrage and brought back memories of the December 16, 2012 gangrape and murder of a physiotherapy intern in Delhi. They were in police custody.
With inputs from PTI
