Police kill suspects held over rape and murder of Indian vet after they 'attacked officers and tried to escape'

Thousands took to the streets across India to protest the brutal attack in Hyderabad
Thousands took to the streets across India to protest the brutal attack in Hyderabad Credit: SAM PANTHANKY/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Four men held in a gang-rape and murder case which has shocked India have been shot dead in police custody, prompting both celebration and calls for an inquiry into their possible summary executions.

All four suspects for the rape and murder of a female vet were killed after police said they had tried to escape during a visit to the crime scene outside Hyderabad in southern India.

The killings in the early hours of Friday were praised by the woman's family and celebrated on social media amid anger at horrifying levels of sexual violence against women.

But politicians and rights groups to call for an immediate investigation into whether officers had meted out their own justice, in a country where extra-judicial killings are said to be common.

Police said the four suspects were taken to the scene where the unnamed 27-year-old victim is believed to have been raped and murdered and the nearby site where here burned body was found. Officers had been hoping the two truck drivers and two truck cleaners, aged between 20 and 26 would reconstruct the crime and help uncover evidence, including the victim's phone. Instead, the men, who had not been charged, allegedly attacked police with stones, grabbed their weapons and opened fire.

Protesters burned effigies of "rapists" in Shiv Sena on Thursday Credit: NARINDER NANU/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

VC Sajjanar, the local police commissioner, said all four had been shot dead, and two officers injured. "Even though our officers maintained restraint and asked them to surrender, but without listening to us they continued to fire and continued to attack us.”

The family of the victim praised police. "It has been 10 days to the day my daughter died. I express my gratitude towards the police and government for this,” her father told ANI. “My daughter’s soul must be at peace now." 

Police at the scene were scattered with petals and hoisted onto the shoulders of well wishers.

The killings immediately led to calls for an investigation though. Police across South Asia are often accused of deliberate “encounter killings” where officers kill suspects or prisoners and then say they acted in self-defence. The subject is a staple of crime movies and officers with a reputation for the practice are known as encounter specialists.

Maneka Gandhi, a member of parliament from India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, accused police of taking the law into their own hands.

"They would've been hanged by court anyway. If you're going to kill the accused before any due process of law has been followed, then what's the point of having courts, law and police?" she said.

Avinash Kumar, executive director of Amnesty International India, said: “Extrajudicial killings are not a solution to preventing rape.”

The gang rape and murder of the unnamed woman was the latest in a string of horrific crimes against women which had prompted protests across India. New laws brought in after a notorious 2012 rape and murder in Delhi have not cut the number of crimes, and prosecutions languish in the backlogged courts for years.

The latest victim had left home for an appointment on her scooter and later called her sister to say she had a flat tyre. She said a lorry driver had offered to help and that she was waiting near a toll plaza. Her burned body was found the following day.

In a separate incident earlier this week, a woman who reported she was raped last year was beaten and set alight by her alleged attackers while they were on bail. The woman received 90 per cent burns and is in a critical condition.