In a shocking turn of events, all the four accused in the rape and murder of a veterinarian in Hyderabad were killed in an encounter by the Telangana police early morning on Friday, 6 December.
Reacting to the accused being killed, the victim’s father told news agency ANI that his daughter’s soul must be at peace now.
“It’s been 10 days since my daughter died. I express my gratitude towards the police and government for this. Her soul must be at peace now.”Victim’s father
"We watched on TV that they were killed in an encounter. We are very happy. Even people are happy. I thank the Telangana government and police for the encounter. I thank everyone who stood by us," the woman's father said.
"We feel police acted very fast. We did not expect (encounter). We thought we will get justice through a fast track court. There has been a lot of public support since the incident. We asked police to ensure justice and hang them at the earliest,” he added, according to PTI.
Asked if they felt they had got full justice, he said they would not get their daughter back, but it (police action) gave them some relief and courage.
The victim’s cousin, who had accompanied the parents to look for the victim on the intervening night of 27-28 November, told The Quint that the family is glued to the news and that they feel some sense of relief.
“We were shocked when we heard about it in the morning but we are also happy that justice has been served so soon. They tried to take the four accused to the site for reconstruction of the crime and they tried to run away and were killed. We are happy the culprits got punished so soon. We feel some sense of relief.”Victim’s cousin
Ibrahim, who is a neighbour of Accused 1, Mohammad Arif, told us that he thinks this was a planned killing. “This is wrong, all this has been planned. How can the police just kill all four of them. We do not believe it is an encounter,” he said.
‘They Killed Him’: Mohammad Arif’s Father Breaks Down
Mohammad Arif’s father cried profusely on the phone while talking to The Quint, "Vo bol rahain hai usko maar diya ma. Bol rahain hai encounter kar diya ma. Aaj subah hi pata chala hai humko." (They are saying they killed him. They are saying he was killed in an encounter, we got to know today morning only).
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)