Ex-Maha DGP condemns Hyd encounter; Satyapal Singh hails cops

Former Maharashtra top cop D Sivanandhan on Friday decried the `encounter' of four accused in the Hyderabad rape and murder case, but some other former Cops, including BJP leader Satyapal Singh, backed the action.

The four men arrested for the rape and murder of a 25-year-old woman veterinarian in Hyderabad were killed in an exchange of fire' with a police team on Friday morning.

Former Maharashtra  Director General of Police D Sivanandhan said this kind of "shortcut" will not help with prevention of crime in the long run.

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The 1976-batch IPS officer, whose tenure in Mumbai in the 1990s saw several encounters of gangsters, said, "After the encounter, the police may get praised for a short period, but it is not good in the long run." Sivanandhan, who headed the Mumbai Police after the 26/11 terror attack, also said it was better to take measures to prevent crime against women with the help of technology.

"There should be proper patrolling and adequate police presence all over the city," he said. Another former top official of Mumbai Police said, requesting anonymity, "Whatever happened should not have happened, especially when the accused were in police custody.

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"Former Mumbai police commissioner Satyapal Singh, who is now the BJP MP from Baghpat, hailed the encounter. "I would like to congratulate Hyderabad Police for tackling the situation with great valour. It would've been a big stain on the uniform if the culprits would've managed to escape from custody. Jai Hind," he said in a tweet.

Retired Assistant Commissioner of Police Prafulla Bhosale, one of the Mumbai police officers who gained fame as encounter specialists', justified the killings, saying it was the "need of the situation".

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"It is justified as the accused tried to snatch the weapons of policemen during the crime scene reconstruction," he said.

"Had the accused managed to flee, it would have been disgusting for the police, and they would have been blamed for negligence," he said.