The Cyberabad police on Saturday suspended three policemen, including a sub-inspector, for delaying to register a missing person case of the 26-year-old veterinary doctor, who was brutally gang-raped and murdered by four men on the outskirts of Hyderabad on Wednesday.
According to the reports, the Cyberabad Police Commissioner VC Sajjanar said the police personnel were suspended for dereliction of duty. A detailed inquiry has found that they delayed the registration of an FIR relating to the missing woman on the intervening night of November 27 and 28, the commissioner said.
The suspended police personnel are M Ravi Kumar, Sub-Inspector of Police, Shamshabad Police Station, P Venu Gopal Reddy and A Sathyanarayana Goud, both head-constables at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) Police Station.
“All the officers of Cyberabad Police have been once again instructed to register cases irrespective of jurisdiction whenever a complaint related to cognisable offence is received at the police station,” said the Commissioner.
Earlier, serious questions were raised against the conduct of Telangana police after the parents of the deceased woman accused the police of willfully neglecting their complaint. Reportedly, the police allegedly disbelieved the parents of Preeti Reddy when they complained about missing daughter.
Reddy’s parents have stated to media that when they insisted that their daughter might be in trouble, the police officer speaking to them had stated that their daughter must have eloped with someone. They said the police wasted a lot of time over jurisdiction issue between two police stations, besides asking them inappropriate questions.
The family members said that they first approached the RGIA police station from where they were directed to go to Shamshabad police station. Reportedly, the policemen had reportedly said that the area in which crime was committed was not under their jurisdiction.
“The police spoke to us very rudely, in a disgusting manner. They kept saying she would have gone with someone. I kept saying my daughter is not like that, but they didn’t listen. Their apathy cost us our daughter, they didn’t do what they should have,” the parents had said.
A controversy had also erupted after Telangana Home Minister Mohammad Mahmood Ali on Friday had indulged in an outrageous act of victim shaming. Speaking to the media, Mohammad Mahmood Ali, Telangana Home Minister said the deceased woman who was a doctor should have dialled the emergency police contact first rather than contacting her sister.
Meanwhile, the National Commissioner for Women (NCW) has taken cognizance of the horrific event and sent a team headed by panel member Shyamala K Sundar to look into the case.
The NCW has slammed the police for delaying the inquiry. the NCW members said that the police played a ‘negative role’ in the investigation. They further asked the state government to start the State Women’s Commission with immediate effect.
The NCW members also pointed out that there were no women officers in the team probing the case and police did not give protection to the family.
The Case:
On Wednesday night, a 27-year-old veterinarian Dr Preeti Reddy (name changed) was brutally raped and murdered and her body was set ablaze on the outskirts of Hyderabad. Four people have been reportedly arrested in connection with the case.
According to the reports, the four accused had pre-planned the crime after they had noticed that the victim had parked her two-wheeler at the Tondupally toll plaza. The accused assumed that the lady would come to pick it up later in the evening. The accused then deflated the tyre of the two-wheeler.
As Preeti Reddy (name changed) was returning home from work a little after 8 pm to pick her vehicle, she noticed a flat tyre. She immediately called her sister, who suggested that she leave her two-wheeler at the toll plaza and take a cab home. Before she could do that, two men approached her, who offered to take her vehicle for repair.
The woman was allegedly ambushed and dragged into the bushes by the accused barely 50 metres from Tondupally toll plaza behind a line of trucks that was parked near the road. Her charred body was found under an underpass on Thursday morning.
According to police, the accused took her body to an under-construction bridge a few kilometres away and set it on fire. The police stated that the victim’s innerwear and some other objects including an alcohol bottle found around 100 metres from the spot led them to believe she was sexually assaulted before being killed.
The Telangana police have also confirmed that Preeti Reddy (name changed) was kidnapped and gang-raped. The police confirmed that a lorry driver named Mohammad Pasha from Narayanpet in Mahababub Nagar district was allegedly the main suspect. Media reports are now saying that rape has been confirmed in post mortem analysis.
The other accused, identified as Naveen from Gudigandla, cleaner Kesavulu, and an assistant named Siva have also been arrested. The incident has sparked massive outrage among the public over the never-ending cases of sexual violence against women.
