Telangana vet's rapists possibly behind similar cases in 3 states: Cops

Hyderabad: The four accused involved the brutal gangrape and murder of woman veterinary doctor, who were killed in an encounter with Telangana police early morning today, were involved in similar crimes across Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, suspect Police.

"We have done DNA profiling of the victim and of all the accused and have collected scientific data and evidence. Further, we are collecting data from Karnataka, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh about the missing and burnt bodies of women. Once the data comes we will analyse it about their involvement. We suspect that the accused were involved in other such cases across these states," said Cyberabad Police Commissioner VC Sajjanar while addressing a press conference here.

Cyberabad Police on Friday said that they had recovered the murdered veterinarian's mobile phone, power bank and watch from the crime scene.

The police's statement comes after the four accused -- who were arrested for raping and burning the medico on November 27 in the Shamshabad area -- were killed in an encounter earlier today.

Detailing the sequence of events that led to the encounter of all the four accused, he said that the accused were killed in a 'retaliatory' action by the cops after they started attacking the police with stones, sticks, and other materials while they also snatched the weapons of two police personnel and opened fire on them.

"All the four accused got together and they started attacking the police party with stones, sticks, and other materials and also snatched away weapons from two of our officers and started firing," said Sajjanar .

According to the Commissioner of Police (CP), the police officials maintained restraint and asked them to surrender but the accused continued firing on the police, after which the police fired in retaliation, killing the accused.

The accused Mohammed Arif, Naveen, Shiva, and Chennakeshavulu were killed in the police encounter at Chatanpally, Shadnagar, in the wee hours of Friday.

The veterinarian was brutally raped, killed and burnt by the accused in the Shamshabad area on November 27. Her charred body was recovered on November 28.