After pointing to Hyderabad encounter as 'lesson for those committing heinous crimes', Telangana minister claims remarks misinterpreted

Hyderabad: Telangana minister Talasani Shrinivas Yadav on Sunday clarified that the controversial statement, wherein he had reportedly said that the encounter in Telangana where four men accused in rape and murder were killed was a lesson that anybody who commits such heinous crime can expect to be eliminated in the encounter, has been “misinterpreted.”  "What I said at the beginning, what I said at last..they are cutting it and pasting it in middle. That is not the proper interpretation. It is not correct," he said while speaking to ANI. On Saturday, media reports had quoted the minister as saying that the encounter was a lesson that anybody who commits such a heinous crime can be expected to be eliminated in a police encounter and that directions for “reconstruction of crime happened with instruction from above.” The minister, while speaking to ANI stressed that Telangana administration took immediate action and arrested the accused. Speaking about the encounter, the minister said, “They (accused) were taken at the place for reconstruction of the crime scene. They kept misleading (the police). They started pelting stones at the police. They tried to fire after snatching revolver from the ASI. But the law is there for self-protection. They (the police) took action according to law.” But he highlighted that a message has gone in the country in the aftermath of the entire episode. Four people were arrested in connection with the case, wherein a veterinarian was gang-raped and murdered. They were shot dead by police in an encounter on Friday. According to police, the four accused snatched weapons and tried to flee.