Indian police shoot dead four men suspected of raping vet: BBC

Indian police shot dead four men suspected of raping and killing a vet in the southern city of Hyderabad last week, the BBC reported on Friday.

The men had been in police detention.

Police said the men had been taken to the scene of the alleged crime and were shot after they tried to attack police there, BBC Telugu said.

Last week, thousands of protesters gathered outside a police station on the outskirts of the Indian city of Hyderabad demanding four men accused of raping and murdering a 27-year-old woman be handed over to them.

Some protesters clashed with police, hurling slippers, after the charred body of the woman, a veterinarian, was found in the town of Shadnagar, near Hyderabad, last week Thursday.

Police said medical evidence would be hard to obtain given the state of the body but that they were working on the assumption the victim had been raped.

The four accused were remanded in judicial custody for 14 days, police said.

The victim - who cannot be named for legal reasons - had left home on her bike around 6pm on Wednesday to go to a doctor's appointment, her sister said.

She called later to say that she had a flat tyre and a lorry driver had offered to help and that she was waiting near a toll plaza, she added.

The victim’s mother demanded that the culprits be burnt alive, the Times of India newspaper quoted her as saying.

The incident is reminiscent of the fatal gang-rape of a young woman, labelled Nirbhaya (Fearless) by Indian media, on board a bus in 2012. 

The crime sparked widespread protests and drew international attention to violence against women in India.

The current case has also provoked outrage on social media with #HangRapists trending on Twitter in India.

-Reuters