HYDERABAD: In a swift move, the Cyberabad police on Friday arrested four persons for the rape and murder of a veterinarian in Shamshabad near here. The victim’s charred body was found under a bridge in Shadnagar on the Hyderabad-Bengaluru highway on Thursday morning. The accused were traced and nabbed based on clues from CCTV footage, eyewitnesses and intelligence inputs, Cyberabad Police Commissioner VC Sajjanar said on Friday. A probe is on to verify if the accused had committed any crimes earlier.
They were booked under Sections 376D, 302, and 201 of the IPC and the Criminal Amendment Act, 2013. The case will go to a fast-track court and efforts will be made to ensure the accused get capital punishment, said Sajjanar. He asserted that the police had prioritised the search for the woman when she was missing and said teams visited the toll plaza and inquired in the surroundings, but did not search the abutting open plot.
Explaining how the gruesome crime was planned and executed, Sajjanar said the accused noticed the victim parking her scooter in the open area near the toll plaza and hatched a plan to trap and rape her. They discussed this plan while drinking alcohol in their lorry. Jollu Shiva, 20, came up with the idea of deflating a tyre of her scooter so she wouldn’t be able to leave. His distant relative Jollu Naveen deflated the tyre and they waited for the victim to return to her scooter.
As soon as she arrived, the main accused, Mohammed alias Areef, alighted from the lorry and approached her. As she was about to start the vehicle, he told her that the tyre was flat and offered to help her. He then sent the vehicle for repair through Shiva, but returned saying all shops were closed. Even before the victim could respond, Mohammad, Naveen and Chintakunta Chennakeshavulu dragged her for about 15 metres into the open plot abutting the road. They stripped her and raped her one by one.
How accused bought petrol to burn body
Inquiries revealed that before raping her, the accused assaulted her on the left rear portion of her head, leaving her unconscious. After raping her, while Shiva held her legs, Areef smothered and gagged her, killing her on the spot. Later, they removed the number plate of her scooter, dumped her body in the lorry cabin and left. While Areef and Chennakeshavulu travelled in the lorry, the other two followed on the scooter. From the toll plaza, they left at 10.22 pm on Wednesday, took a U-turn after the toll plaza, and headed towards Shadnagar.
They travelled to Chatanpally, where they dumped the body. On the way, they tried to fill fuel from two petrol pumps in an empty bottle, but the staff refused, insisting that they would only fill fuel in a vehicle. They finally succeeded at a petrol pump near Kothur, and bought petrol there. They, then stopped near JP Dargah X roads and drew diesel from the lorry into a bottle. After this, they took a U-turn near Shadnagar X roads, and stopped near the culvert at Chatanpally.
“They carried the body under the culvert after wrapping it in a blanket, and set it afire using petrol and diesel. They then left, but Shiva and Naveen returned to ensure the body was completely burnt. Following this, they returned to Kothur, where the other two were waiting in the lorry.