Amid questions being raised on circumstances surrounding the encounter deaths on Friday morning of the four accused in the gangrape and murder case of the 26-year-old veterinarian in Hyderabad, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor has struck a note of caution.

While the development is being celebrated nationwide, Congress leader and Lok Sabha member Shashi Tharoor said extra-judicial killings were not acceptable.

"Agree in principle. We need to know more, for instance if the criminals were armed, the police may have been justified in opening fire preemptively. Until details emerge we should not rush to condemn. But extra-judicial killings are otherwise unacceptable in a society of laws," Shashi Tharoor tweeted.

Agree in principle. We need to know more, for instance if the criminals were armed, the police may have been justified in opening fire preemptively. Until details emerge we should not rush to condemn. But extra-judicial killings are otherwise unacceptable in a society of laws. https://t.co/BOMOjCYrb1 Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) December 6, 2019

The four accused in the rape and murder case of 26-year-old Hyderabad veterinarian were killed early morning on Friday in police firing when they reportedly tried to flee from the crime scene where they were taken for recreation of the crime.