Was Hyderabad Encounter Pre-Planned? Report Says Telangana Cops Were Looking At 'Other Options'

Even as the nation stands divided over the shocking encounter in Hyderabad, there is a growing chorus over the manner in which the entire incident happened. While the Cyberabad Police is maintaining that the accused had attacked the police party and were shot dead in self-defence, a Deccan Chronicle report says otherwise. Curiously, the report that was published four days ago, goes on to say that there was a strong buzz bout looking at ‘other options’ beyond arrest. The November 30 report talks about how the top cops had met the senior officials of Chandrasekhar Rao to look at other ways of dealing with accused in the case. “The discussions reportedly went on for quite some time before Sajjanar announced the arrests at a press conference,” the Deccan Chronicle report said.

“The hush-hush discussion that ‘something more than arrest’ would calm public anger was aimed at sending across a message that the Telangana police will not taking things lying down when it came to such macabre crimes,” the report further said.

Meanwhile, the Telangana High Court on Friday directed the state government to preserve bodies of the four suspects in Hyderabad veterinarian rape and murder case, who were shot dead in police custody earlier today. The Hyderabad police had taken the four men arrested in connection with the veterinarian’s rape and murder case to the scene where the victim’s charred body was found.

The High Court gave the order on a representation received in the office of the Chief Justice, requesting judicial intervention into the incident, alleging it was an extra judicial killing. "We further direct that the dead bodies of the four deceased/accused/suspects who were killed in the encounter be preserved by the State till 8:00 PM on December 9,” the High Court division bench said.

The police said that they attacked them with sticks and snatched their weapons, following which an "encounter" broke out between them. They all were killed in the "crossfire". However, questions were raised on their killings with several lawyers and human rights activists criticised police for what it appeared to them was not an "encounter" but "extra judicial killings".