Four men have been arrested by the Cyberabad police on Friday, for allegedly raping and killing a 26-year-old veterinary doctor on the outskirts of Hyderabad on Thursday. The arrests come a day after Madhuri (name changed) was found dead in the Outer Ring Road (ORR) underpass in Chatanpally village under Shadnagar police limits. The police in a press conference on Friday evening disclosed the details of the four arrested men.
The accused have been identified as Mohammed Areef (26), Jollu Shiva (20), Jollu Naveen (20) and Chintakunta Chennakeshavulu (20). All four men are natives of Narayanpet district.
According to the police, the accused noticed the victim parking her bike at Shamshabad toll plaza around 6 pm on Wednesday. The four consumed alcohol and hatched a plan to rape the victim. As per plan, Naveen deflated the scooter tyre. When the victim returned to pick up her vehicle, Areef got down from his lorry and informed her that the vehicle had a puncture.
Offering help, Shiva took the bike to get it repaired. Meanwhile, Areef, Naveen and Chennakeshavulu forcibly took the victim into an abandoned room near the toll plaza, and raped the victim.
While the men raped the victim, Areef allegedly put his hand over her mouth, suffocating her. Following the murder, two of the accused drove away with the body in the lorry, while the other two drove around in the victim’s bike to different petrol bunks, collecting petrol in loose bottles, the police statement said. The accused then burned the victim’s body in the underpass.
Among the four accused, Cyberabad Commissioner V Sajjanar said that Areef has been identified as the prime accused. Police registered a case under 376 (punishment for rape), 302 (punishment for murder) and sections of Nirbhaya Act.
Speaking about the arrest, the Commissioner said, “We were able to nab the four accused quickly because of intelligence inputs.” He added that the clues from the crime scene and CCTV helped in promptly cracking the case.
After the crime came to light, police had formed 10 teams to nab the accused.
On Wednesday, Madhuri had to visit a clinic in Gachibowli, Hyderabad. She took her two-wheeler, parked it at Shamshabad toll gate and then hired a cab to Gachibowli. She returned to Shamshabad to pick her bike around 9 pm. However, she found that the bike’s rear tyre was deflated. At 9.22 pm, Madhuri called her sister, telling her that she was scared and asked her to keep speaking to her.
In the phone conversation, she told her sister that the lorry drivers in the vicinity volunteered to help fix her bike, despite her refusing. “I am very scared about them. I feel like crying. I don't feel like standing here. You please keep talking until my bike comes back. They (lorry drivers) are all waiting outside. You please keep talking to me, I am scared,” she said.
Madhuri’s sister, Ramya (name changed) called her back at 9.44 pm, and realised that her phone was switched off. She assumed that her sister’s phone must have run out of power. The family later went to Shamshabad toll booth, but couldn’t find her. After conducting searches, they approached Shamshabad police, and a missing complaint was registered at 3 am.
At 7 am, Shadnagar police received information about a burnt dead body in the underpass, in Chatanpally. After going through the list of missing persons, police identified Madhuri.