HYDERABAD: Nine days after the spine-chilling rape and murder of 27-year-old veterinarian at Thondupalli toll plaza on the Outer Ring Road near Shamshabad, all the four accused in the case died in an “encounter” with the police in the early hours of Friday at Chatanpally in Shadnagar mandal.
Their date with death was on an agricultural field right next to where they set fire to the body of Disha on the intervening night of November 27 and 28.
Her charred body was found under a bridge at Chatanpally on Hyderabad-Bengaluru National Highway No 44.
The stretch of agriculture land where the accused Mohd Pasha alias Areef, Jollu Shiva, Jollu Naveen, Chintakunta Chennakesavalu, were killed, lies around 300 metres from the place where the victim’s body was found.
Nine mm pistols were found in the right hands of two of the accused, Areef and Chennakesavalu. These pistols are generally carried by SIs.
After the news broke out, Disha’s father said: “I am happy that justice has been served. I am satisfied with the action the police have taken,” her father said.
As soon as the news of their death spread, Telangana erupted in celebrations. People began “hero” Cyberabad Police Commissioner V C Sajjanar for serving “timely justice”.
Jubilant rallies, festoons, banners appeared almost instantly on streets. A huge crowd collected at the Chatanaplli bridge and gave a standing ovation to Cyberabad Police Commissioner VC Sajjanar, shouting slogans in his support and showering petals from the top of the bridge. Several celebrities including Telugu filmstars such as Chiranjeevi, Nagarjuna Akkineni and Jr NTR felt justice has been served.
Interestingly, Sajjanar was Superintendent of Police, Warangal in 2008 when three youths accused of throwing acid at two girls were shot dead in a similar “encounter” at Mamonoor on the outskirts of Warangal. Of the two girls, one girl died and the other survived.
Then too, Sajjanar’s “heroism” was celebrated.
Though there was jubilation all over the two Telugu states, the National Commission for Human Rights has taken a serious view of the “encounter killings” and deputed a team to ascertain facts.
Meanwhile, National Commission for Women said that though the punishment meted out to the accused was justified, it should have come from a court of law and not from the police.
Director of Council for Social Development Kalpana Kannabiran described the death as killings in cold blood and asked whether it was justified.
There was stunned silence at the houses of the accused.
Chennaksavulu’s wife, Renuka, who is pregnant, made an emotional statement that the police must shoot her down at the same spot where they killed her husband.
Later in the evening, Sajjanar said that the accused were brought to the spot to trace material belongings of the victim.
“In the process, they attacked the police with stones, sticks even as Arif and Chennakesavulu snatched two pistols from the police party and started firing at them. They were warned and asked to surrender, but as they continued firing indiscriminately, our men had to open fire at them in self-defence. After some time, there was silence. Our men went around the place and found all of them dead with bullet injuries,” Sajjanar said, adding that the victim’s mobile phone, wristwatch and power bank were recovered near the spot.
Further, they also sought constitution of an independent court-monitored committee to examine the FIRs registered in the case and related aspects.
The activists who included K Sajaya, Meera Sanghamitra, Padmaja Shaw, G Jhansi, M Vimala and others made a representation to Justice A Rajasekher Reddy in the high court chambers as the Chief Justice Raghvendra Singh Chauhan was away from the city.
After hearing their plea, the judge assured them to take the issue to the notice of Chief Justice for necessary action.
In the representation, the activists stated that when the encounter took place in the wee hours of Friday, all the four accused were unarmed and were handcuffed. They demanded that a case under Section 302 IPC should be booked against all the police personnel who took part in the encounter.
20 rounds fired during encounter
According to sources, a total of 20 rounds were fired from both sides and each of the accused had at least three bullets on their body. Areef, Naveen and Chennakeshavulu received bullet injuries in chest and abdomen regions, while Shiva received a bullet injury in the neck also. A police party comprising ten policemen took part in the operation.According to sources, while the accused used 9mm pistols snatched from police party to fire at the police team, bullets from AK 47 weapon in possession of the policemen were used to gun the accused down.
WATCH | Hyderabad vet rape-murder case: All four accused shot dead by police