Hyderabad vet rape-murder case: HC orders second autopsy of accused’s bodies.

Source – hindustantimes.com

The Telangana high court on Saturday ordered a second autopsy on the bodies of the four rape and murder accused, who were killed in an alleged encounter with the police on December 6, within 48 hours.

A division bench comprising chief justice Raghavendra Singh Chauhan and justice A Abhishek Reddy directed the post-mortem must be conducted again by a team of forensic experts from All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, before 5pm on December 23.

“The post-mortem report should be submitted to the court in a sealed cover and the bodies should be handed over to their family members after the post-mortem,” the high court bench told the state government, represented by principal secretary, medical and health department.

The four accused – Mohd Arif, Jollu Naveen, Jollu Shiva and Chintakunta Chennakeshavulu, had allegedly raped and murdered a 26-year-old veterinary doctor on November 27 on the outskirts of Hyderabad. The police arrested them and produced them before the local magistrate in Shadnagar on 29.

Police got the custody of the accused for further questioning on December 4. They were taken to Chatanpalli under Shadnagar police limits for the reconstruction of the scene of their offence on December 6.

The accused were shot dead in retaliatory fire by the police when they allegedly snatched weapons from the personnel and fired at them.

The bodies were shifted to Gandhi Hospital in Hyderabad on December 9, three days after the first post-mortem examination was conducted at Mahabubnagar Government Hospital and the bodies were kept in the mortuary since then.

The high court initially refused to entertain any petition against the encounter as the Supreme Court had seized of the case and constituted a three-member committee to conduct a comprehensive investigation.

However, the top court later asked the state high court to go ahead with the disposal of the bodies of the four men after collecting all evidence.

Gandhi Hospital’s superintendent Dr P Shravan Kumar informed the high court in the morning that the bodies of the four accused had already decomposed to an extent of 50% even though they had been preserved at a temperature of -2 to -4 degrees Celsius.

Dr Kumar said the bodies would decompose totally in another week and should be handed over to their relatives at the earliest.

Even though he said there was no need for another post-mortem examination, the high court said a third-party study by the doctors from Delhi was required to clear any doubts.

The court also asked the government to ensure the police surrender the weapons used in the encounter and that they were sent to the central forensic science laboratory.