Police say the men tried to escape custody.
Indian police have shot dead four men suspected of raping and killing a young female vet in India last week.
The men were shot dead while in police custody on Friday and two policemen were also injured.
The men had been arrested in connection with the gang-rape and murder of a 27-year-old veterinarian who was strangled and her body set alight in the southern city of Hyderabad.
She had left her scooter at a toll booth for a medical appointment the night before and the men are said to have deflated her scooter tyre and waited for her in an isolated area.
Her body was found near a highway underpass sparking nationwide outrage and protests in several major cities across the country.
The accused men were identified as Mohammad Areef, Jollu Shiva, Jollu Naveen, and Chintakunta Chennakeshavulu and had become figures of hatred within the country following the brutal crime.
All four were shot dead when they were taken back to the scene of the crime in the early hours of Friday to do a reconstruction. Police said they were shot when they tried to steal the officers’ guns and escape.
N Prakash Reddy, a deputy commissioner of police in Shamshabad, said: “In the morning, at around 6-6.30, our persons have come to reconstruct the scene of crime and the accused have tried to snatch their weapons, and there was a cross-fire. In this, all the four accused have died. Two policemen have been injured.”
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