Police have arrested four suspects in the wake a brutal rape and murder of a veterinarian in the Hyderabad area of India. Those detained include a prime suspect in the harrowing crime that has shocked the nation.

The four men were brought into custody on Friday, just one day after the badly burnt body of 27-year-old vet Priyanka Reddy was found, local media reported. The police were able to flag the suspects after browsing through CCTV footage from the crime scene.

Among those arrested is the prime suspect, identified as Mohammed Pasha, a local truck driver. Pasha, along with the other three men, is accused of kidnapping, gang-raping and slaughtering the woman near Tondupally toll plaza on the outskirts of Hyderabad.

Police has released the photo of prime accused in the murder of #PriyankaReddy is 'MOHAMMED' Pasha.#HangMohammedPasha#JusticeForPriyankaReddypic.twitter.com/U44gAIhV72 — Raja Singh (@TigerRajaSingh) November 29, 2019

The prelude to the tragedy began on Wednesday, when Priyanka Reddy’s motorbike developed a flat tire as she made her way to an animal hospital. She tried to leave but a group of men blocked her way out and then offered to repair the flat tire. Police now believe the suspects intentionally caused the puncture in order to make their attack easier.

During her final phone call to her sister Bhavya, the woman said she was frightened at being stranded in an unfamiliar area, surrounded by several men and trucks parked nearby. Bhavya suggested that she abandon the bike and walk to the nearest toll gate, but that didn’t happen.

Priyanka was forcibly taken to a secluded location near the plaza where the heinous crime took place. Investigators are now trying to find out whether she was bludgeoned to death or strangled.

Her badly burned corpse was discovered on Thursday morning by locals. Police later recovered the victim’s clothes, footwear, and a liquor bottle outside the toll plaza.

READ MORE: ‘I’m so scared!’ India shocked by brutal rape & murder of young vet, touched by her last words

The harrowing news has resonated throughout Indian society, reviving bitter memories of the 2012 crime in which 23-year-old female physiotherapy student Jyoti Singh was beaten, gang-raped, and tortured in a private bus in South Delhi.

As the investigation continues, Priyanka’s family is demanding justice. “Whoever has done this needs to be hanged to death,” her father said. The victim’s mother wants a harsher punishment, saying the culprits should be “burnt alive in public.”

Also on rt.com ‘I want the accused burnt alive’: Mother of slaughtered Indian vet demands justice

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