Four men suspected of raping and killing a woman in southern India have been shot dead by police after trying to flee during a visit to the crime scene, an official has said.
The men, who were in police custody but had not been formally charged with any crime, were killed around 3.30am local time, according to a police sub-inspector in Hyderabad.
According to an official in the police commissioner's office, the suspects were taken to reconstruct the crime scenes, both where the rape is suspected of taking place and the spot where the woman's body was burned about 600 yards away.
Another official said the suspects tried to grab an officer's firearm and escape during a visit to the crime scene.
The burned body of a 27-year-old woman, a vet, was found last week by a passer-by in an underpass in Hyderabad after she went missing the previous night.
The high-profile case has sparked protests across India.
About 300 people gathered at the crime scene in Shadnagar, a town in the state of Telangana about an hour south-west of Hyderabad, to praise police for fatally shooting the suspects.
Some hugged officers and lifted them into the air chanting "long live police", while others showered them with flowers.
Bu some observers condemned the police killing.
Kavita Krishnan, secretary of the All India Progressive Women's Association, said: "This type of justice is counterfeit.
"The killings are a ploy to shut down our demand of accountability from governments, judiciary and police, and dignity and justice for women. We demand a thorough investigation into this."
Maneka Gandhi, a lawmaker from India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and a former Cabinet minister, accused police of taking the law into their own hands.
