Nov. 30 (UPI) — Police in southern India arrested four men accused of raping a woman and smothering her before setting her on fire this week.
The 27-year-old woman died Wednesday, though accounts differ on whether the smothering or fire killed her.
“Four people have been arrested and they have confessed to sexual assault with the victim. Due to the sexual assault and the force, she became semi-conscious,” R. Venkatesh, police inspector from Hyderabad, told CNN.
“They put her body in a lorry and took her to a different location where they put her body under the bridge and poured diesel fuel and petrol on her body and burnt her.”
Police told the Times of India the woman died from suffocation.
Cyderabad Police Commissioner VC Sajjanar said two truck drivers and their two assistants attacked the woman, a veterinarian, on the pretext of assisting her with a flat tire on her school. One man allegedly took the scooter away while the three other dragged the woman to an empty lot where all four raped her.
Police said one of the men smothered the woman to stop her screams. The men then drove her body to a highway underpass where they set her on fire.
Officials said they identified the four suspects — Mohammed Areef, C Chennakeshavulu, J Shiva and J Naveen — using CCTV footage. All four allegedly confessed to the crime. They were due in court Saturday.
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