Accused In 2019 Hyd Vet’s Rape And Murder Case Were Deliberately Killed By Police: Panel

Mumbai: The Sirpurkar commission report in the 2019 Hyderabad veterinarian’s murder and rape case has said that the accused were “deliberately fired upon with intent to cause death”.

A three-member panel headed by a former apex court judge said three of the four rape and murder accused killed in the encounter were minors. The panel, in its report to the Supreme Court, had recommended the prosecution of policemen accused of murder.

A 26-year-old veterinarian was raped and murdered in Shamshabad near Hyderabad in November 2019, causing a massive national uproar.

Later the killing of the four accused in police custody was called the ‘Disha encounter’. The police had named her Disha to protect the identity of the rape and murder victim. She was a veterinary assistant surgeon in a government hospital and was attacked by four men one night.

Four men raped and murdered the woman and then loaded her body into a truck and burnt it under a bridge later that night. As the incident sparked nationwide outrage, the Telangana Police was under pressure to deliver the sentence without delay on the basis of a fast-track court trial.

All the accused were killed in police custody on 6 December 2019 under a bridge on the Bengaluru-Hyderabad National Highway. According to the police, the accused allegedly snatched guns and attacked the officers.

Cyberabad police said that the four accused were killed in the ensuing encounter. Though the ‘Disha encounter’ was seen by many as an example of extra-judicial execution, thousands across the country celebrated ‘quick justice’ in the form of the death of the accused.

The Justice Sirpurkar Commission was constituted by the Supreme Court to investigate the extra-judicial killings of the accused by the Cyberabad Police.

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