Telangana High Court Orders To Preserve Bodies Of Rape Suspects Killed By Police Till December 13

The Telangana High Court on Monday ordered the state government to preserve the bodies of the four Hyderabad rape suspects, killed by police in an alleged encounter, till December 13. The court will hear the matter again on December 12. Earlier on Friday, the High Court had directed the Telangana government to conduct the autopsy of the accused on camera and preserve their bodies till 8:00 pm on December 9 after representation received in the office of the Chief Justice, requesting judicial intervention into the incident, alleging they were extra-judicial killings.

On Friday morning, the four suspects in the rape and murder of the veterinarian, that triggered nation-wide outrage, were shot dead while in police custody. According to the police, the four men were taken to the crime scene as part of investigation. They alleged attacked police personnel accompanying them with sticks, snatched their weapons and opened fire. All of them were shot dead in the "cross firing," the police caimed.

However, questions were raised on the police theory with several activists alleging "extra judicial killings". The police, on the other hand, said that they acted in self-defence. The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) also took cognisance of the encounter killings of the four accused in the case and ordered a probe. A seven member NHRC committee visited the mortuary at a state-run hospital in Mahabubnagar district, where their bodies have been kept after post-mortem.

The team, including a forensic medicine expert, examined the bodies and also visited Chattanpalli village, about 50 kms from here, the spot where the charred remains of the woman were found beneath a culvert on November 28, and also the encounter site nearby.