Telangana HC orders bodies of rape accused preserved till Dec 13

Telangana High Court on Monday directed authorities to preserve till Friday the bodies of all four accused who were gunned down by the police last week near Shadnagar town during investigation into woman veterinarian's gang-rape and murder.

The court took up hearing of two petitions, seeking a comprehensive probe into December 6 incident.

The division bench headed by Chief Justice R. S. Chauhan wanted to know if the police followed the Supreme Court guidelines in the matter. The court also wanted the government to provide evidence of the same.

A counsel of the petitioners told reporters that Advocate General B. S. Prasad submitted to the bench that similar petitions were being heard by the Supreme Court. He sought that the case be adjourned to Thursday as the hearing in the apex court is scheduled for Wednesday.

The court agreed with the Advocate General and posted the case to Thursday for further hearing.

When it was brought to the court's notice that Government Medical College in Mahabubnagar lacked facilities to preserve the body for a longer duration, the court issued orders for shifting them to Gandhi Hospital in Hyderabad.

Earlier, the court on December 6 had passed orders for preserving the bodies till December 9.

The orders had come on a representation by various human rights and women's groups requesting judicial intervention into what they called 'extra judicial killings' of the four accused.

The petition, signed by as many as 15 organisations, alleged that the encounter was carried out in violation of the Supreme Court guidelines.

Rajendra Prasad, an advocate, has also filed a petition on the encounter.

All the four accused were killed by police in an alleged exchange of fire at Chatanpally near Shadnagar town early on December 6. The police claimed that the accused snatched weapons from police party and opened fire and in the retaliatory fire by police all four were killed.

The incident occurred when police had taken the accused to Chatanpally for recreation of crime scene and collect evidence. It was at this place that the accused had allegedly set afire the victim after sexually assaulting and killing her on the outskirts of Hyderabad.