'All accused arrested within 48 hours of murder,' claim Hyderabad cops

Hyderabad: After the rape victim's parents alleged that the police delayed in responding to the complaint that she was missing and also told them to go elsewhere to lodge a complaint, the police claimed that all of them were arrested within 48 hours of the brutal murder, reported NDTV.

Three 20-year-old men and a 26-year-old man have been arrested and charged in the gangrape and murder of a 26-year-old veterinarian who went missing from Shamshabad, about 20 km from Hyderabad, on Wednesday night. Her burnt body was recovered the next day.

“The accused have been identified as Mohammad Areef, Jollu Shiva, Jollu Naveen and Chintakunta Chennakesavulu. All of them are from Narayanpet, a town about 160 km from Hyderabad. They work as lorry drivers and cleaners. All of them were arrested within 48 hours of the brutal murder,” said the police.

According to police, based on the interrogation, investigation and technical clues, Areef and Shiva had come to the toll plaza at 9 am on Wednesday with a truckload of bricks. They were joined by their two friends. There was a delay in unloading and so they waited near the toll plaza.

The police said the four men offered help to the woman with her vehicle after its tyre was punctured at around 9:20 pm and in the next one hour, they gangraped and murdered her.

In the evening at about 6:15 pm, they saw the young woman parking her bike and hatched a plan to sexually assault her. So they punctured the two-wheeler. When she returned after 9:00 pm, Areef along with Shiva offered to help her get it repaired. To win her trust, Shiva took the bike for a few minutes and returned to say that no shops were open.

It was at this time that the young woman had called her sister and said she was feeling scared. Minutes later, she was pulled into the compound nearby where the men gangraped her and smothered her to death. They had switched off her mobile by 9:45 pm.

By 10:20 pm, they had murdered her. The woman's body was kept in their vehicle. By 10:28 pm, they had left the place. Areef and Naveen took the two-wheeler and abandoned it at Kothur village after removing the number plate while the other two went in the lorry. They tried to buy petrol at a couple of locations at around 1 am. Subsequently by 2:30 am, they set the body on fire under a culvert at Chattanpally.

They subsequently came to the city and unloaded the bricks on the vehicle near Attapur and dispersed. "Based on technical clues, they were caught,'' V C Sajjanar, commissioner of Cyberabad police was quoted by NDTV.