Hyderabad Encounter: Telangana HC to hear matter today, state govt forms SIT to probe extrajudicial killings

The Telangana High Court will hear the case of Friday's encounter of four men accused of raping and murdering a veterinarian in Hyderabad.

A bench headed by Chief Justice will hear the matter at 10:30 am.

Cyberabad Police had on Friday killed all the four accused in the gangrape and murder of a Hyderbad-based veterinary doctor.

Earlier on Saturday, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) conducted an on-site probe of the encounter.

The Telangana government on Sunday formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the encounter of the four accused. The SIT will be led by Rachakonda Police Commissioner Mahesh M Bhagwat.

Besides a case in High Court, petitions have also been filed in the Supreme Court alleging non-compliance of the apex court's 2014 guidelines on police encounters.

Earlier on Friday, the High Court had ordered that the body of the four men should be preserved by the state government till 8 pm on December 9.

A court said that a representation was received in the Office of the Chief Justice around 06:00 pm, Friday requesting Judicial intervention in regard to the "extra judicial killing of the four accused persons who were allegedly involved in rape and murder of Disha" on November 27.

The Advocate-General of Telangana was requested to appear before the Division Bench at 8 pm following which instructions were issued.

The court directed that the video of the post-mortem examination in a compact disc (CD) form or pen-drive will be handed over on Friday to the Principal District Judge, Mahaboobnagar, after the completion of the post-mortem examination of all the accused.

The court further directed that the dead bodies of the four men who were killed in the encounter be preserved by the state till 08:00 pm on December 9.

The 26-year-old woman was allegedly raped by four men on November 26. They later set her on fire and dumped her body in Chatanpally, Shadnagar, around 60 km from Hyderabad. Her charred body was recovered a day later by the police, following which the police launched the manhunt and arrested the four accused.

On Friday, the police took the four accused the scene of the crime for reconstruction as part of the investigation. The Cyberabad Police Commissioner said the accused snatched their weapons and fired on police and hence, in self-defence, the police fired back, in which the accused were killed.