Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Sunday ordered setting up of a fast-track court for expeditious trial in the case of rape and murder of a woman veterinarian near Hyderabad and assured all necessary help to her family.
In his first public statement since the incident, Rao also described the rape and murder of the 25-year old woman by four men as 'ghastly' and expressed his deep anguish.
He directed the officials to initiate the process for setting up a fast-track court and ensure that the culprits get tough punishment, a statement from his office said in Hyderabad.
The release pointed to the verdict in the rape and murder of a minor girl in Warangal given within 56 days of the crime due to the setting up of a fast-track court for the case.
Rao felt that the verdict should come quickly in the veterinarian case as well, it said.
The chief minister said the government would extend all necessary help to the family of the veterinarian, whose killing has triggered an outrage.
Rao, who expressed his anguish over the incident, was upset that that the perpetrators of such heinous crimes are living amidst us, it said.
Amid growing public anger over the incident, residents of the colony where she stayed, on Sunday turned away political leaders who wanted to call on her family, while the police is set to seek custody of the accused for further probe.
The residents locked the main gate of the colony at Shamshabad on the outskirts of the city and held aloft placards that read 'No Media, No Police, No Outsiders - No sympathy, only action, justice.'
Condemning the incident, a woman asked why the CM had so far not reacted to the incident, which occurred on Thursday.
"Police have said they nabbed the four accused who have confessed to their crime. Why is the chief minister not ensuring quick justice?" she asked.
Another woman sought to know why the prime minister has not yet tweeted on the incident.
Former Communist Party of India-Marxist MLA J Ranga Reddy and his party workers, who were asked by the residents to go back, told PTI that he and his colleagues squatted at the gates of the colony for some time, expressing support for the family.
However, Congress MP A Revanth Reddy called on the parents of the victim to offer moral support.
Earlier, police said they planned to file a petition in the court, seeking custody of the four accused for further interrogation.
"As part of further investigation, we are thinking of filing a custody petition shortly," a senior police official told PTI.
"It (custodial interrogation) may be done in the jail itself," the official said.
Meanwhile, three policemen have been suspended for alleged delay in registering the first information report.
The Ranga Reddy Bar Association have decided not to appear for the four accused in the case.
Grieving over the alleged involvement of their children in the dastardly act, the mothers of the two accused said the authorities should hand out appropriate punishment to them.
"You give whatever punishment (to them). I have a daughter too," the mother of Chennakesavulu, one of the four accused, said.
Chennakesavulu has not been taking up any work in view of health issues he has been suffering from since the last six months, his mother claimed.
Another family member of Chennvakesavulu said they were unable to face people after the latter's arrest.
The mother of another accused Siva also said he should be punished for his crime. "You do anything. God only knows," she said.
The families of the two accused said they make their living through modest means.
The rape and murder of the woman veterinarian last week sparked off a nationwide outrage.
Protests were held in Hyderabad and other places in Telangana against the incident, with the concerned citizens demanding that the accused be handed out a stringent punishment like death penalty.
Software engineers, medical students and others held candle light protests on Saturday, expressing outrage over the heinous crime.
Meanwhile, the Cyberabad Police on Sunday appealed to the media to not continuously telecast the issue of gruesome murder of the woman.
