The killing of four men involved in last week’s rape and murder of the 26-year-old veterinarian on the outskirts of Hyderabad brought the much-needed solace to her parents, but the families of the accused said their deaths on Friday came as a rude shock.
Mohammad Ali alias Mohammad Arif, Jollu Shiva, Jollu Naveen Kumar and Chintakunta Chennakesavulu were taken by the police to the crime spot as part of their investigation.
Hyderabad Police chief VC Sajjannar said the accused attacked the police with sticks, snatched their guns and started firing on the team.
“The officers warned them and asked them to surrender but they continued to fire. Then we opened fire and they were killed in the encounter,” Sajjannar said.
The Hyderabad vet’s father admitted he had never expected that justice would be delivered to his daughter so fast.
“Justice was done to my daughter, at last. This will make her soul rest in peace,” he told reporters at his residence soon after the news of the encounter broke out.
He thanked the Telangana government, the police and all those who supported them in their hour of grief.
“We were given assurance that the trial would be completed as fast as possible and the accused would be given stringent punishment. There was no communication either from the police or the government on the morning’s encounter,” he said.
The woman’s mother said she was happy to know about the death of the accused. “In any case, that will not bring my daughter’s back. But at least it has brought us some solace,” she said.
Her sister said she was hoping that the accused would be hanged to death, but did not expect that they would be killed in an encounter.
A pall of gloom descended on the families of the three of the accused at Gudigandla village of Makthal block in Narayanpet district, as the news of their killing was flashed on television channels early in the morning.
“Take me to the same place and kill me too. I cannot live without him. I want to die,” Renuka, the 17-year-old wife of Chennakesavulu, said.
Chennakesavulu, 20, from Gudigandla village of Makthal block in Narayanpet district, was the only one among the four accused who was married.
Renuka said the police had picked up her husband, promising that he would be brought back after questioning.
“But they killed him mercilessly. I want my husband back or the police should kill me, too, at the same place. I cannot live without him,” she told reporters at the village.
She said it had not even been a year since she got married to Chennakesavulu. “Now, the police took away my husband from me,” Renuka, who is in her early months of pregnancy, said.
In her earlier interactions with reporters, Renuka said her husband was a soft and quiet guy.
“But he was caught with others and was accused of the crime. If he really had committed the offence, let the courts decide and give him the death penalty. After all, I am also a woman like the doctor who was raped and killed,” she said.
The father of Jollu Shiva, Jollu Rajappa, said he was not finding fault with the police for killing his son.
“The whole world is saying my son had committed the ghastly crime. One of the four is learnt to have confessed that they had raped and killed the woman. Now, my son got the punishment,” he said.
Rajappa, however, sought to know whether the police gave similar punishment to all rapists and murderers till now.
“If the police can kill my son for the crime he had committed, the police should mete out similar punishment to the other rapists as well,” he asserted.
Chollu Naveen’s father Yellappa described it as a cold-blooded killing by the police.
“The police did not even allow us to meet my son and talk to him. They had a lot of time to prove that he and others were guilty before taking any action. Why did they punish them even before completing the legal process?” he asked.
Prime accused Mohammad Arif’s mother of Jakkulare village collapsed after hearing the news of her son’s death and refused to speak to reporters.
