HYDERABAD: A charge sheet has been filed in a court here in connection with the gang rape and murder of a Dalit woman ( name changed to Samatha) in Komaram Bheem-Asifabad district of Telangana last month, police said on Saturday.

Komram Bheem-Asifabad district Superintendent of Police M Malla Reddy told reporters that the charge sheet was filed within 20 days of the incident after completion of investigation along with all relevant evidence with forensic reports and 44 witnesses have been cited.

"We have adequate evidence and police will extend all help and cooperation for completing the trial as early as possible," the SP said.

On November 25, the body of the 30-year-old woman, a street hawker, was found with stab marks and was found in the bushes on the outskirts of Ramnayak Thanda in Lingapur village. Her husband dropped her to sell the crockery items at Ellapatar village in Jainoor mandal on Sunday afternoon. As she was not reachable over the mobile phone even after the evening her husband lodged a complaint with the police. He searched for her at Ellapatar village, but could not find her. He and his family members later traced her body in the wild on Ramanayak Thanda-Ellaputar village the next day morning.

The woman's family along with different people's organisations held protests and demanded 'encounter' deaths for the three accused in the case similar to what was meted out to the four suspects in the veterinarian rape and murder case.The agitators called off the dharna after SP M Malla Reddy assured them of justice.

The Telangana government on December 11 issued orders for setting up a special court for speedy trial in the rape and murder of the Dalit woman.

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