Hyderabad / What led to encounter of 4 accused of Hyd vet's gangrape and murder?

Sajjanar was handling a case of acid attack on two girls when the accused were shot dead

Waking up to the encounter of Disha killers, the people of Warangal district recalled a similar incident that took place in 2008.

Incidentally, it was V.C. Sajjanar who was the Superintendent of Police of Warangal district, who handled the case of acid attack on two girls that shook the country then. There was massive public outrage and pressure on the police to kill the accused immediately.

It took three days for the police to arrest the three youth – S Srinivasa Rao, P Harikrishna and B Sanjay who attacked two girls – Swapnika and Praneetha, who just came out of their college. The youth were hiding in the agricultural fields on the city outskirts, where they hid the acid bottles.

When the police found out, the youth allegedly tried to snatch away the weapon from the police constable and the police immediately shot them dead.

Prior to the alleged encounter, the police came under heavy attack from the public, and hundreds of girl students from various colleges took out rallies criticising the police for their failure to arrest the accused. They even staged a protest demonstration at the district police office.

On hearing the encounter of the accused, the public burst into joy and heaped praise on the police for their action.

A similar incident took place in 2007 when 10-year-old Manisha was kidnapped from her school in Warangal. The accused killed her and threw the body into an agricultural well at Lingampally village in Station Ghanpur mandal. The then Superintendent of Police Soumya Mishra came under heavy criticism and there was public outrage. Students took out rallies and held protest demonstrations. When the accused were caught and taken to the crime scene reconstruction at the agricultural well, they allegedly tried to escape and police were forced to open fire, killing them on the spot.

A resident of Ramnagar, Vemuri Neelima, hailed Mr Sajjanar and said she saluted him and his team for their action. “I went mad after hearing about the brutal killing of Disha. Now the accused got the correct punishment,” she said.

A resident of Excise colony, Tadaka Srinath Goud, said the Telangana police were the pride of the people. “The Telangana police, particularly the Warangal police, are best. Mr Sajjanar, who worked here, delivered what people expected. He did it again and I salute him,” he said.