Amid vociferous protests by hundreds of enraged people and their attempts to attack the killers of woman veterinarian, the Cyberabad police on Saturday presented the four accused before an executive magistrate who remanded them in judicial custody for 14 days.
With contingents of police in riot gear guarding the vehicle ferrying the accused, the police shifted them from Shadnagar police station on city outskirts to Charlapally central prison in the city. Footwear and stones were hurled at the vehicle by the angry protesters raising slogans of ‘either neutralise the killers or handover them to us’ as it was driven off.
Police had to resort to mild lathi-charge to disperse the protesters who tried to obstruct the convoy of police vehicles shifting the accused to the prison. The Shadnagar Bar Association had said none of its members would represent the accused in the local court.
Announcing breakthrough in the vet’s rape and murder on Friday, the Cyberabad police announced the arrest of four accused. They were shifted to Shadnagar police station for completion of legal formalities and presenting before the local magistrate.
Learning on Saturday morning that “killers were inside”, people in large numbers began assembling at the Shadnagar police station. Sensing trouble, the policemen posted rope parties preventing people from entering the station. As the crowds swelled, they deployed additional forces but the protesters were too large to control for them. By noon, Shamshabad DCP Prakash Reddy arrived and repeatedly appealed to people through public address system to maintain calm, assuring that “justice would be secured in a month to the victim”.
“Either you kill them or allow us to lay hands on them,” replied the crowd. Attempts to drive the agitators from the vicinity of the police station only resulted in more slogan shouting. Adopting a wait and watch strategy while acknowledging public anger over the heinous crime, the police deployed more personnel.
Several top officials of Cyberabad along with the Hyderabad Police Commissioner’s Task Force, known for its tactics of handling such situation, too arrived at the spot. Even as the sea-saw battle of agitators surging a step forward and police pushing them backwards continued, the police brought the executive magistrate Pandu Naik to the station as it had become difficult to shift the accused to his office.
Announcing their judicial remand, the executive magistrate left the place. But the police officials had before them the challenge of shifting the accused to the prison through the angry crowd waiting outside. They brought three mini buses to the police station, made the four accused lie down in one of the vehicles and drove off with a huge contingents guarding the convoy in the front and the rear side.
