Hyderabad, Nov 29: Two truck drivers and two cleaners have been arrested by Cyberabad police for the alleged gang-rape and murder of a woman veterinarian near the Outer Ring Road (ORR) on the outskirts of Hyderabad on Wednesday night, it was announced on Friday.
Cyberabad Police Commissioner V.C. Sajjanar told a news conference that the accused trapped the 25-year-old victim by deflating one of the tyres of her scooty and raped her near Tondupally toll plaza at Shamshabad.
He said the victim died of asphyxiation during the rape as the accused had tightly held her mouth. The accused later carried the body 28 km away to Chatanpally bridge near Shadnagar town and set it ablaze.
The accused have been identified as Mohammed Arif, and Chintakunta Chennakeshavulu, both lorry drivers and Jollu Shiva and Jollu Naveen, both lorry cleaners. Arif is 26 years old while three other accused are aged 20. All the accused hailed from Narayanpet district of Telangana.
"The accused saw the victim parking her vehicle near the toll plaza at 6 p.m. and while consuming alcohol, they discussed her and hatched a plan to commit the crime," the police official said.
As part of the plan, Naveen deflated the back tyre of the victim's scooty. When the victim, after finishing her work at Gachibowli, returned to toll plaza at 9.18 p.m., Arif approached and told her that her vehicle's back tyre is punctured and offered to get it repaired through his cleaner Shiva and the victim innocently agreed.
The victim called her sister around 9.45 p.m. and told her that her vehicle got punctured and somebody offered to help her and took her vehicle for repair. She also said that she was feeling frightened due to presence of some truck drivers near her.
The victim's sister had advised her to leave the vehicle, come to the toll plaza and return home by a cab. However, when she later called her back, the mobile was switched off.
As the victim was waiting for the vehicle, Arif and others caught hold of her and took her away from the main road and raped her.
Shiva, who had taken the vehicle, had also returned. All the accused raped her one by one, the top cop said.
After the rape and murder, the accused put the body in the truck cabin and headed towards Shadnagar. While Arif and Chennakeshavulu were on the truck, the other accused followed them on the victim's scooty. The cleaners on the scooty bought petrol in a bottle from a bunk enroute. The accused also took out diesel from the truck. They all reached Shadnagar crossroads and carried the body to the underpass by covering it in a blanket, set it afire and left.
The investigations also revealed that the duo on the scooty went back to check whether body was properly burnt or not. They later disposed off the two-wheeler near Kothur and all the four accused started in their lorry and returned to Hyderabad.
The victim's family lodged a missing complaint with the police around 11 p.m. The police on Thursday morning found a charred body near Shadnagar and it was identified as the body of the missing woman.
Investigations revealed that the victim had left her house in Shamshabad for Kolluru village to attend the duty at the veterinary hospital. She returned in the evening at the toll plaza, parked her scooty nearby and took a cab to go to Gachibowli in Hyderabad to visit a dermatologist.
The Police Commissioner said a request would be made to hand over the case to the fast track court, Mahbubnagar to expedite the prosecution for maximum punishment to the accused.
He said 10 police teams investigated the case and cracked it within 48 hours with the help of CCTV analysis, eye witnesses and human intelligence.
