On the night of 27 to 28 November 2019, a 26-year-old veterinarian was raped and murdered near Shamshabad on the outskirts of Hyderabad, and her body was burnt. Protests spread from Telangana to Delhi and Parliament. On 6 December Cyberabad police shot dead all four accused at Chatanpally, saying they had snatched weapons and fired. A Supreme Court-appointed commission later found the firing deliberate and recommended murder trials for 10 police officers, but in May 2024 the Telangana High Court barred coercive action against them.
Key takeaways
- After the rape and murder of a 26-year-old veterinarian near Hyderabad on 27 to 28 November 2019, crowds besieged Shadnagar police station and protests spread nationwide.
- On 6 December police shot dead all four accused at Chatanpally, saying two had snatched pistols and fired.
- The Sirpurkar Commission found the firing deliberate and recommended murder trials for 10 officers. In May 2024 the Telangana High Court barred coercive steps against them.
How it started
Police say the veterinarian parked her scooter near the Tondupally toll gate at Shamshabad on the evening of 27 November and took a shared cab to Gachibowli. When she returned, her rear tyre was flat Scroll The News Minute. Police said the accused had deflated it, offered help, then raped and killed her. Her body was burnt with petrol bought from a fuel station The News Minute.
Before the attack she phoned her sister, saying she was scared. The family went to the police about an hour and a half later The News Minute. Her burnt body was found under a bridge at Chatanpally near Shadnagar Tribune. Police arrested four men, two lorry drivers and two cleaners from Narayanpet district, on 29 November Tribune The News Minute. Reports gave her age as 25 to 27.
This page does not name the woman, her family or the accused, some of whom were later found to be minors.
The missing complaint and the police delay
Claim · Family The family said police wasted time arguing over which of two stations had jurisdiction and asked inappropriate questions. Her mother told The News Minute that officers "kept saying she would have gone with someone" The News Minute. Her sister said police asked whether she had a boyfriend Scroll.
Documented On 30 November Cyberabad Police Commissioner VC Sajjanar suspended a Shamshabad sub-inspector and two head constables of the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport police station for "dereliction of duty". He said an inquiry found they delayed registering the FIR on the night of 27 to 28 November. All officers were told to register cases "irrespective of jurisdiction" when a complaint of a cognisable offence is received The News Minute.
There was outrage when Telangana Home Minister Mohammed Mahmood Ali asked why the woman had called her sister and not the police Scroll.
The protests
On 30 November students held a large protest at Shamshabad that stopped traffic. Locals gathered at Shadnagar police station, where the accused were held, blocked the road and demanded an "encounter" of the accused. The News Minute.
Because of the crowd outside, the accused could not be taken to court. An executive magistrate remanded them to 14 days' judicial custody at the police station itself. Stones were thrown at the police vehicle taking them to jail in Hyderabad, and police used force to disperse the crowd Free Press Journal. Police baton-charged protesters Scroll.
Protests followed in Vijayawada The News Minute, at a candlelight march at Jantar Mantar in Delhi Free Press Journal, and in Delhi and Mumbai on 3 December Scroll Scroll.
On 2 December both Houses of Parliament discussed women's safety. Samajwadi Party MP Jaya Bachchan said such accused "need to be brought out in public and lynched". Scroll.
Government's position Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao said on 1 December that the case would be tried in a fast-track court. On 4 December the High Court approved a special court at Mahabubnagar Scroll.
Timeline
Rape and murder
The veterinarian is attacked near the Shamshabad toll plaza; her body is burnt under a bridge at Chatanpally Scroll.
Shadnagar siege
Crowds outside Shadnagar police station demand the accused; three police are suspended Free Press Journal.
All four shot dead
Police say the accused attacked them during a reconstruction at Chatanpally and were killed in retaliatory fire The News Minute.
Inquiry ordered
The Supreme Court appoints the Sirpurkar Commission The News Minute.
Report made public
The Supreme Court sends the matter to the High Court The News Minute.
High Court interim order
A single judge bars coercive steps against the officers on the basis of the report Hans India.
The encounter at Chatanpally
Claim · Police Commissioner Sajjanar said a 10-member police team took the accused to Chatanpally to recover the woman's phone, power bank and watch. Around 5.45 am, he said, they attacked the police with stones and sticks, and two of them snatched pistols and fired. "They continued to fire and attack despite us asking them to surrender," he said. Two officers had head injuries but "no bullet wounds" The News Minute.
Asked about criticism from the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), he said: "Law has done its duty" PTI via Onmanorama.
The NHRC ordered an on-the-spot inquiry, saying the matter needed to be "probed very carefully" PTI via Onmanorama. That evening the Telangana High Court ordered the post-mortems to be video-recorded and the bodies preserved LiveLaw.
Celebration and criticism
Crowds gathered at the site shouting "DCP Zindabad, ACP Zindabad" and threw rose petals on police Punekar News. The woman's father thanked "the police and government" Scroll.
BSP chief Mayawati told UP police to take inspiration from Telangana police, and BJP MP Locket Chatterjee said "such encounters should be made legal". Former minister Maneka Gandhi asked: "If you are going to shoot them before due process of law has been followed, then what's the point of having courts, law and police?" Scroll.
Both accounts
Rights groups' and petitioners' account
Petitioners in the Supreme Court said the encounter was staged to deflect anger over police lapses in the original case LiveLaw. Vrinda Grover, lawyer for women's rights activists who sought an inquiry, said Sajjanar's press conference had "awarded a certificate of innocence to the policemen" before any inquiry began, and that because the accused were killed, the perpetrators of the original crime "will never face the wrath of the law" The News Minute.
Police and Telangana government account
Government's position In the Supreme Court on 12 December 2019, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi said for the state that the accused "fired at police and pelted stones" and that police fired in response The News Minute. The state opposed a commission as a parallel inquiry and pointed to its own Special Investigation Team (SIT) Deccan Chronicle. Later, the officers told the High Court the commission exceeded its remit and its report was "not based on any evidence" Deccan Chronicle Hans India.
What the Sirpurkar Commission found
On 12 December 2019 a bench led by Chief Justice SA Bobde appointed former Supreme Court judge VS Sirpurkar, former Bombay High Court judge Rekha Baldota and former CBI director DR Kaarthikeyan. Deccan Chronicle. The commission held public hearings over 47 days from August to November 2021, examined 57 witnesses, and reported on 28 January 2022 Deccan Chronicle.
In our considered opinion, the accused were deliberately fired upon with an intent to cause their death and with the knowledge that the firing would invariably result in the death of the deceased suspects.
Sirpurkar Commission report, 28 Jan 2022 (via Onmanorama and The News Minute)
The 387-page report called the police version from the safe house to Chatanpally "concocted". It said the accused could not have snatched and fired the pistols, and that the best evidence, including CCTV footage and inquest video, appeared to have been withheld Onmanorama. It found no bullets recovered from the alleged exchange site and no first aid given to the officers said to be seriously hurt The Leaflet.
Documented The commission recommended that all 10 officers be tried under IPC Sections 302 (murder) and 201 (disappearance of evidence), read with 34 (common intention) Tribune.
On the ages of those killed, reports of the report differ. The Leaflet says it found two were juveniles, based on school records police had photographed The Leaflet. The Tribune and Deccan Chronicle quote it as concluding that three of the four were minors Tribune Deccan Chronicle.
On 20 May 2022 the state's counsel, Shyam Divan, asked that the report stay confidential. Chief Justice NV Ramana replied: "There is nothing confidential. Someone has been found guilty and now the state has to look into this." The court sent the matter to the High Court The News Minute.
What followed in the High Court
The officers filed writ petitions against the report. On 1 May 2024 Justice Bollam Vijaysen Reddy directed the government not to take coercive steps against them on the basis of the report until the next hearing. He suspended the report for a former tahsildar and a former Shadnagar station officer, who said they were never heard Deccan Chronicle. Deccan Chronicle said seven officers were covered; later reports say all 10 NewsMeter.
In September 2024 a bench of Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice J Sreenivas Rao heard public interest petitions seeking FIRs against the 10 officers. Vrinda Grover cited the Supreme Court's 2014 PUCL guidelines on encounters Deccan Chronicle. Government's position Advocate General A Sudarshan Reddy said all matters should be heard together because the report was under challenge. The bench adjourned the case to 30 September 2024 Hans India.
Outcome
- Original crime: No trial was held; the four accused were killed before trial.
- Inquiry: Sirpurkar Commission found the encounter staged and recommended murder trials for 10 officers.
- Court: Telangana High Court barred coercive steps against the officers on 1 May 2024.
- Law: On 13 Dec 2019 Andhra Pradesh passed the Disha Act, providing verdicts within 21 working days and death for "heinous offences of rape and gangrape" Scroll.
What is still pending
No reporting found up to October 2026 shows a High Court ruling on the petitions after September 2024, an FIR against the officers, or the interim order being lifted. No court has found any officer guilty.
Questions people ask
What did the Sirpurkar Commission find?
It found that police deliberately fired on the four accused to kill them, called the police version "concocted", and recommended murder trials for 10 officers.
Have the police officers been tried?
No. In May 2024 the Telangana High Court barred coercive steps against them, and no later ruling was found up to October 2026.
What is the Disha Act?
A law passed by the Andhra Pradesh Assembly on 13 December 2019, named after the media's pseudonym for the victim. It aims for verdicts within 21 working days in serious sexual offences.
Sources
- The News Minute: Protests break out in Telangana over gangrape and murder of 26-year-old vet, 30 Nov 2019
- Free Press Journal (agencies): Protests over gangrape-murder of Hyderabad vet, 1 Dec 2019
- The News Minute: 3 policemen suspended in Hyderabad vet's rape and murder case, 1 Dec 2019
- Scroll: Three police officials suspended for delay in filing FIR, Nov 2019
- Scroll: Parliament debates women's safety after Hyderabad case, 2 Dec 2019
- Scroll: Telangana High Court sets up fast-track court in Mahabubnagar, 4 Dec 2019
- The News Minute: 'They kept firing and didn't surrender': Telangana police on encounter deaths, 6 Dec 2019
- PTI via Onmanorama: 'They snatched weapons and fired at us': Sajjanar, 6 Dec 2019
- Scroll: Law did its duty, say police after four accused killed, 6 Dec 2019
- Scroll: Politicians react to Telangana encounter, 6 Dec 2019
- Punekar News: People shower flowers on police at encounter site, 6 Dec 2019
- LiveLaw: SC orders judicial enquiry into Hyderabad encounter, 12 Dec 2019
- The News Minute: SC forms commission headed by former judge to probe Hyderabad encounter, 12 Dec 2019
- Deccan Chronicle: SC appoints 3-member panel to probe encounter, 13 Dec 2019
- Scroll: Andhra Assembly clears Disha Bill on sexual violence, 13 Dec 2019
- Tribune: SC gives 6 more months to panel to conclude probe, 2020
- Deccan Chronicle: Encounter was fake, says SC panel, 20 May 2022
- The News Minute: SC makes commission report on encounter public, 20 May 2022
- Tribune: Hyderabad encounter fake, 10 cops must face trial, says SC panel, 20 May 2022
- Onmanorama: Encounter of 4 suspects 'deliberate', says SC panel, 20 May 2022
- The Leaflet: How the Commission of Inquiry exposed the Hyderabad encounter, 26 May 2022
- Deccan Chronicle: Telangana HC tells government no action against officers, 1 May 2024
- Hans India: HC suspends Sirpurkar panel report until further orders, May 2024
- The News Minute: Vrinda Grover interview on the encounter case, 11 May 2024
- Deccan Chronicle: Telangana HC hears pleas on encounter case, 4 Sept 2024
- NewsMeter: Telangana HC hears pleas for FIRs against 10 police, 9 Sept 2024
- Hans India: PILs in HC seeking FIR under Section 302 against police, Sept 2024