Cyberabad Police Commissioner V C Sajjanar
The police officer from the Hyderabad police, was SP Warrangal ( Sajjanar), when three persons accused of throwing acid on two girls were shot dead in an encounter on December 12, 2008. Now at about 3 a.m. on December 6, 2019, media reports tell us that the ‘encounter of four accused’ in the rape and murder of the 27 year old veterinarian doctor in Hyderabad that had generated nationwide outrage is the third in 10 years in Telangana not involving Maoists by the same officer. The accused were reportedly taken to Chattapally, 30 km from Hyderabad, post-midnight in an attempt to recreate the crime scene when they allegedly tried to escape after attacking the police. Officials have been on record with sections of the media stating that the police fired at them in self-defence and killed all four on the spot.
2008 ‘encounter’ in acid attack case
The first encounter dates back to December 12, 2008, when the Warangal police shot down, in cold blood, three persons allegedly accused of throwing acid on two girls. It was none other than present day Cyberabad Police Commissioner VC Sajjanar, who is handling the Hyderabad rape case, led the 2008 action as the SP of Warangal.
At that time 11 years ago too, the police had claimed that those ‘accused’ in the acid attack case were shot dead in self-defence as they had tried to attack the police and escape. According to the police, the trio was taken to a place near Muvunur where they had hidden the motorcycle used during the incident. But as soon as they neared the vehicle, the accused whipped out a revolver and knives hidden in the motorcycle and tried to attack the police.
Police had claimed that the men had asked the escort to stop to answer nature’s call and while reboarding the bus, tried to snatch weapons from the police. All five of them were killed in self-defence, police had said. The encounter took place a week after two SIMI activists shot dead four policemen while trying to escape a check post in Nalgonda district. Civil rights activists have however repeatedly claimed it was a staged encounter and that the five men were killed to avenge the death of the policemen.