AIIMS Conducts Second Autopsy Of 4 Rape Accused Killed By Telangana Cops

The second autopsy on the four rape accused killed by the police in an encounter near Hyderabad earlier this month was conducted by a team of forensic experts of AIIMS, Delhi, following which the bodies were handed over to their families, a top official said.

A separate cabin had been arranged at the Gandhi Hospital for All-India Institute of Medical Sciences team for the autopsy and the entire process was videographed,Superintendent of the state-run facility Dr P Shravan Kumar said.

The Telangana High Court on December 21 ordered the a second postmortem of the four, who were accused of gang-rape and murder of a woman veterinarian near Hyderabad.

The first post-mortem was conducted on December 6, the day they were shot dead by the police, at a government hospital in Mahabubnagar from where the bodies were subsequently shifted to the Gandhi Hospital.

The forensic experts will be handing over their report from the second autopsy in a sealed cover to the High Court.

The bodies have been handed over to the families after due identification process was done, Superintendent of the state-run facility Dr P Shravan Kumar said.

A police official said two ambulances each carrying two bodies left for the native places of the deceased in Narayanpet district.

Before starting the second autopsy, the AIIMS team interacted with the kin of the deceased men and recorded their statements, Mr Kumar said.

"The team first wanted to talk to the kin of the deceased. So accordingly we arranged an interaction with them. The team recorded their statements. The relatives informed the team that they would take the bodies once the process is completed," he said.

On its request, the team was provided a handicam (portable video camera) and a computer, Mr Kumar added. The police had made elaborate security arrangements near the hospital.

The bodies of the four accused have been preserved in the Gandhi Hospital as per the earlier orders of the high court after some PILs were filed alleging that the encounter was fake and amounted to extra-judicial killing.

The four accused were arrested on November 29 for allegedly raping and killing the woman veterinarian and burning her body. The case triggered widespread protests across the country.