Hyderabad: The four accused arrested in connection with the rape-and-murder of a 25-year-old woman veterinarian near here last month were killed in an alleged encounter with the police Friday morning, police said.

"The four accused were killed in an encounter with the police," Cyberabad Police Commissioner V C Sajjanar said.

The four men, all lorry workers, aged between 20 and 24, were arrested on November 29 for allegedly raping and killing the woman by smothering her and later burning her body. They were in remanded to 7 days' judicial custody. They were taken to the crime scene Friday morning by the police as part of the investigation, a source said.

"They fired upon the police team and we retaliated in self-defence. Two of our men are also injured in the incident," the source told PTI.

The gang rape-and-murder triggered a nation-wide outrage with the public and lawmakers demanding speedy punishment to the perpetrators.

The state government has ordered setting up of a fast track court to expedite the trial.

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Kolkata (PTI): Seven people were arrested from the Parnashree area in the southern part of the city for allegedly running a fake call centre, a police officer said on Saturday.

Acting on a tip-off, police raided a house on Netaji Subhas Road on Friday night and found the fake call centre operating from the ground floor, he said.

Preliminary investigation revealed that the accused had set up a bogus company using forged documents and posed as employees of an antivirus firm to call citizens in the US, the officer said.

"The callers would gain the trust of victims and then use remote access to take control of their phones or other digital devices. The accused allegedly siphoned off large sums of money, running into millions of dollars, from victims' accounts," he said.

Five laptops, two WiFi routers, six mobile phones and four headsets were seized from the accused, he said, adding that the seven are being questioned to ascertain the full extent of the racket and to identify others involved.