Must wait for magisterial inquiry outcome: Congress on Hyderabad encounter

The Congress on Friday said that only after a magisterial inquiry a stand can be taken on the encounter of all the four men accused of raping and murdering a 25-year-old Hyderabad woman veterinarian last month.

The four accused were shot dead by police on Friday during a pre-dawn exchange of fire near Hyderabad, a top police official said, as the killings were largely greeted with praise but also sparked concerns over extra-judicial executions.

"A magisterial inquiry is taking place. I just cannot speak on what will be the outcome of the magisterial inquiry, but we should wait... We need to hear the police version because all encounters cannot be bracketed into the same terminology," Congress MP Amee Yajnik said at a party press conference.

"In the morning today we saw what happened. Police people have to go and reconstruct the case and that is why the accused were taken. It appears that as part of the investigation, police took the accused there and what has transpired has led to the death of those four accused being shot," she said.

The four men were arrested on November 29 for allegedly raping and killing the veterinarian by smothering her and later burning her body, an incident that led to widespread outrage and brought back memories of the December 16, 2012 gang rape and murder of a physiotherapy intern in Delhi.

They were remanded to seven-day judicial custody.