Sajjanar helmed Warangal police during similar encounter in

In a coincidence of sorts, Cyberababd police chief V C Sajjanar is at the helm when four accused in the rape and murder of a woman vet were killed on Friday in an alleged encounter, much like he was in Warangal when three men charged with throwing acid on two girls were shot dead by the police.

Residents of the city then part of the undivided Andhra Pradesh recall the encounter in which three people who allegedly threw acid on two engineering girl students in 2008 were killed when Sajjanar was Superintendent of Police here.

On Friday morning, incidentally four accused in the rape and murder of the veterinarian were killed in a police encounter at Shadnagar near Hyderabad when they were taken to reconstruct the crime scene.

In December 2008, the three people accused of hurling acid at two girl students were shot dead in Warangal when they allegedly attacked the police team which went to recover a motorcycle used by them in connection with the case.

The police action came in the wake of a public outcry over the acid attack in which the faces of the two girls were disfigured.

One of the victims later succumbed to the burns while undergoing treatment in Hyderabad.

"We all felt sorry for the girls who were subjected to the acid attack (in 2008). But we were relieved when the three accused were killed in an encounter. Now also we were feeling sad about Disha. We believe justice is done to the family of Disha," Amaranth, a local businessman said about the police encounter on Friday.

The charred body of the woman working as an assistant veterinarian at a state-run hospital was found under a culvert in the Shadnagar station limits of Cyberabad Police Commissionerate on November 28, a day after she went missing.

The four men, all lorry workers, aged between 20 and 24, were arrested on November 29 for allegedly raping and killing the woman by smothering her and later burning her body.

Netizens hailed the Cyberabad police and Sajjanar for the encounter killing of the accused on Friday.