Three policemen, including a sub-inspector were suspended on Saturday for the delay in registering a missing case of a woman veterinarian, who was later found gang-raped and murdered at Shamshabad on the outskirts of Hyderabad on Wednesday, as the family of the victim alleged that the police did not respond quickly when they approached them to lodge the missing complaint at 11 pm. They said the police wasted a lot of time over jurisdiction issue between two police stations besides asking them inappropriate questions.

As the shocking details emerged of the gruesome incident, several protests were seen across Telangana on Saturday demanding justice for the victim. The shocking incident happened on Wednesday night when the accused punctured the rear tyre of the victim’s scooty to set a trap for her. On the pretext of helping her with the flat tyre, the accused abducted her and took turns to rape her. They killed the veterinarian and shifted the body to a place near Shadnagar town and set it to fire. The next day, police found her charred body.

The victim’s family had approached the police one-and-half hour after she had called her sister from her mobile phone, stating that she was stranded near a toll gate at Shamshabad as her Scooty got punctured. The victim also told her that she was feeling frightened as the place was deserted.

Cyberabad Police Commissioner VC Sajjanar said the police personnel were suspended for dereliction of duty. According to a statement from the commissioner’s office on Saturday night, a detailed inquiry has found that they delayed the registration of an FIR relating to the missing woman on the intervening night of November 27 and 28.

M Ravi Kumar, Sub-Inspector of Police, Shamshabad Police Station, P Venu Gopal Reddy and A Sathyanarayana Goud, both head constables at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) Police Station, have been placed under suspension till further orders.

The Commissioner further said, “All the officers of Cyberabad Police have been once again instructed to register cases irrespective of jurisdiction whenever a complaint related to cognisable offence is received in the police station.”

According to the National Commissioner for Women, the police asked the victim’s mother did she have an affair with somebody, reported NDTV.

Several women’s groups and activists and the victim’s family have asked for death penalty for the 4 accused in this case and blamed the Telangana police of handling the case in an apathetic manner.