Priyanka Reddy case: Rage all around as grisly details emerge, people want accused to be hanged
Protesters continue vigil outside victim’s gated community residence
What you should know
— 27 year old veterinary doctor was abducted on Hyderabad-Bengaluru highway near Shamshabad on Wednesday night. She was gang raped at as isolated place, strangled to death. Her body was burnt in an under bridge, 27 kms away from crime scene.
— Police arrested four accused, two lorry drivers and two cleaners with the help of CCTV footage and other circumstantial evidences.
— Protest demonstrations broke out as the horror crime left the entire state shocked to the core.
— People have come out on the roads demanding immediate hanging of the four accused.
— The incident has revived the memories of Nirbhaya case of New Delhi where a young girl was gang raped and murdered in a running bus in December 2012.
Hyderabad: Angry protests continued to rock Telangana with public baying for the blood of the four accused in veterinary doctor’s gang rape and brutal murder in outskirts of Hyderabad.
A verdict in 56 days
In the latest update on Sunday, Telangana Chief Minister K .Chandrashekhar Rao on Sunday directed officials to ensure that the accused in woman veterinarian's gang-rape and murder are tried in a fast track court and the culprits get stringent punishment.
In his first reaction since the ghastly crime on the outskirts of Hyderabad on November 27, the Chief Minister expressed his deep anguish.
KCR, as Rao is popularly known, decided to set up a fast track court to deal with the case. He asked the officials concerned to take measures in this regard.
He noted that in the case relating to rape and murder of a minor girl in Warangal, setting up of the fast track court ensured the verdict in 56 days, and in in the young veterinarian's case too, the verdict should come quickly.
The Chief Minister announced that the government would extend all the necessary help and support to members of the victim's family.
Accused remanded
While the four accused, two lorry drivers Mohammad Arif alias Pasha, and C Chenna Keshavulu and two cleaners Jollu Shiva and Jollu Naveen were remanded to 14 days judicial custody in Charalapally Central jail amid tight security, a large crowd continued its vigil outside “Nakshatra” Gated Community in Shamshabad where the victim of the beastly crime lived. According to the police all the four accused hailed from Narayanpet district.
The shocking incident has revived the memories of Nirbhaya case of December 2016 when a young girl was abducted and raped in a running bus in New Delhi. The girl who was thrown out from the bus in a serious condition later died in hospital.
Parents of accused speak
Even the mothers of the accused have also joined those demanding capital punishment to the rapists and murderers.
“Let him be hanged or set on fire like what they did to the doctor after raping her”, said Shyamala, mother of an accused Chenna Keshavulu. “As a mother of a girl I know the sufferings of the victim’s family”.
“He should be given an exemplary punishment which he deserves for such a brutal crime. We don’t have any idea what he has done”, said Mohammad Hussain, father of accused driver Arif. “He had lied to us. He told us a girl had died in an accident involving his lorry”, Arif’s mother said.
“No entry for police and politicians”, the protesters at Shamshabad shouted at the visiting leaders and police officials and asked them to stay away. “We need justice not sympathies”, said another placard held by the women protesters. “No court case, no hearing, just hang the rapists and killers”, another protester shouted.
Anger in the gated community boiled over as more details of the police apathy came to the light on the night when the 27 year old doctor had gone missing on Hyderabad-Bengaluru highway on Wednesday.
What happened
According to the police four accused entered into a criminal conspiracy to abduct the victim when she parked her two-wheeler near Shamshabad toll plaza to go to Gachibowli in Hyderabad by a taxi.
Knowing that she would come back to the place, the accused punctured her two-wheeler and when she returned around 9.20pm, they abducted her, took her to an isolated place, gang raped and murdered her. Later they took her in their lorry to Chatanpally and burnt her body in an under bridge of the highway. The body was seen by a passerby on Thursday morning.
Police suspended for delay in action
“When we tried to lodge a complaint of our daughter going missing, a policeman told us she might have eloped with somebody”, victim’s father told the media amid sobs.
Facing the flak for making the family to run from one police station to other and delay in action after getting the complaint, top officials have suspended three policemen on duty.
Cyberabad police commissioner VC Sajjanar suspended Rajiv Gandhi International Airport police station sub inspector M Ravi Kumar, and head constables P Venugopala Reddy and Satyanarayana Goud for dereliction of duty. Instead of registering FIR on the complaint of victim’s sister, they had asked her to go to another nearby police station.
Protests
Angry residents staged a sit in protest at the main gate of the colony condemning the incident. They expressed their shock over the failure of the Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao in visiting the family and consoling them. State governor Tamilisai Soundararajan visited the family’s home on Saturday and consoled the shocked family members.
Several opposition politicians including the state Chiefs of Congress and the BJP N Uttam Kumar Reddy and K Lakshman strongly condemned the incident and held the police and state government responsible for the incident.
Union Minister of state for Home G Kishan Reddy also visited the house of the victim and assured all possible help to the family. Later talking to the media he said that the Center would bring amendment to the Indian Penal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code to expedite the trial in heinous crimes such as rape and murder. The center was also considering an amendment so the conviction in such crimes can only be challenged before Supreme Court.
Protest demonstrations also continued in many cities and towns across Telangana with the public demanding capital punishment to the culprits.
Protests were unabated since Saturday when a massive crowd of protesters including students, youth and women laid a siege to Shamshabad police station where the accused were kept. The restive crowd was demanded that the accused should be handed over to them to do the justice on the spot.
As it became difficult for the police to take the accused to the court, magistrate came there and entered the police station from the backdoor and remanded them to the judicial custody. When police was shifting the four to the Charalapally prison, the protesters pelted stones on the police vehicles. The police resorted to use of mild force to disperse the protesters.
Police officials said that they would again seek their custody for further investigation and questioning. The preliminary questioning and probe has brought more grisly details of the crime. While the woman had died due to strangulation during the rape, the criminals raped her dead body in the cabin of the lorry whey they were taking it to dispose off. Before the beastly act, they had also forced the lady to consume liquor mixed in a cool drink.
Meanwhile the state federation of Bar Associations has decided that none of its members will represent any of the four accused in the court of law. Ranga Reddy District Bar Association has also called for protest demonstration on Monday.