The Misery Machine - The Case of Dr. Priyanka Reddy AKA The Hyderabad Nirbhaya

Starting point is 00:00:00 Normally we would start our story with the victim's background, where she was born, where she was as a person, and what she meant to others in her life. But sadly, in this case... Trying to be a bit more mindful of things you buy? For you and your family? Well, when it comes to laundry, choose All Free Clear. 100% free from dyes and perfumes. All Free Clear uses only essential ingredients that tackle tough stains and odors.

Starting point is 00:00:26 And it's gentle on the skin. It's a powerful clean you can feel. feel good about. So go on. Pick up a bottle of all free clear for your next laundry day. Case we don't even know her name. As Indian law does not permit the usage of a victim's actual name in high profile cases, such as the one we're about to share with you, she became known by the names Disha and Hyderabad-Nir-Rabaya by both police officials and media outlets. This is all we have to go by. We're referring to her as Disha for the remainder of the episode. What we do know about Disha is that she was born in 1994. She was known to have had a great love for animals, so she pursued a degree at a

Starting point is 00:01:07 veterinary college in the district of Rajanjur Nagar, which is located to the north of Sham Shabad. After graduating, she began working as a veterinary assistant surgeon at a state-run hospital located at Kohler Village, located about 35 kilometers west of Hyderabad. On November 27, 2019, at around 6.15 p.m., Disha parked her scooter near the Tandupali told Plaza, took a taxi to a dermatologist appointment in Hyderabad. Four men who had been drinking whiskey had spotted her. Unbeknownst to Disha, while she was away at her appointment, the four men, which consisted of two truck drivers and two cleaners, deflated one of her tires. This wasn't the first time that the men had spotted Disha at the Toll Plaza, was part of her regular routine to take a taxi

Starting point is 00:02:01 into the city. But tonight, they decided to make her their victim. At 9.15 p.m., Disha returned to find that her scooter had a flat tire. As she was phoning her sister for help, the four men who were later identified as Mohamed Arif, Chinta Kunta Chena Kishavulu, Jalo Shiva, and Jalo Navine, offered her aid and subsequently ambushed her. As Disha screams for help, the men covered her mouth and forced her into the bushes near the toll gate where her phone was powered off. They poured whiskey into her. her mouth in a failed attempt to silence her. They then stripped her of all of her clothing

Starting point is 00:02:41 and took turns assaying her until she began to bleed and fell into unconsciousness. When Disha began to stir, the men dragged her into their parked truck where they proceeded to smother her to death. Some sources have indicated that she had been strangled. At 2.30 a.m., the men wrapped her in a blanket and callously loaded her body into the back of their truck. They then drove 27 kilometers, to a remote stretch of the Hyderabad Bangalore Highway, where she was discarded like trash beneath an underpass. To add insult to injury, the men covered Disha's body in diesel fuel and petrol and lit her ablaze.

Starting point is 00:03:20 Her charred remains were not discovered until the following day. According to reports, 70% of her body had been burnt, and her scooter had been dumped approximately 10 kilometers from the crime scene. In addition, police located Disha's clothing, handbag and other belongings, as well as spent liquor bottles near the Tandapali Toll Plaza. Thanks to evidence discovered on Disha's cell phone, as well as CCTV cameras that captured their crimes, the four men were swiftly apprehended and taken into custody at the Sherla Polly Central Jail

Starting point is 00:03:52 for a total of seven days. Chief Minister Ravonth Reddy ordered that the men be fast-tracked through the court system to pay for their alleged crimes. However, this is where things take an unexpected twist. Sometime between 3 and 6.30 a.m. on December 6th, 2019, all four suspects were killed by police at the crime scene. According to the police, the men were taken back to the National Highway 44 underpass to reconstruct the scene. It was then, allegedly, that two of the suspects snatched the officer's service weapons and attacked them. The suspect's bodies were autopsy twice before they were released to their families. The first autopsy took place on the day of the shooting at a government hospital in Mabub Nagar, while the second took place on December 21st, 2019 at the

Starting point is 00:04:42 Gandhi Medical College and Hospital. Due to the high-profile nature of this case, this time the post-mortem exam was conducted by a team of forensic experts from All India Institute of Medical Sciences New Delhi. Even though hundreds of thousands of Indians celebrated the men's deaths, others accuse the police of playing the role of judge, jury, and executioner. It's more commonly known in legal circles as extrajudicial killings. Now, these are fairly commonplace in India, where they are referred to as police encounters or simply encounters. This is a term widely used throughout South Asia.

Starting point is 00:05:18 These encounters are sometimes carried out by death squads. Oftentimes, the encounter follows the exact same rubric that we've seen in Disha's case. A suspect allegedly snatched. a weapon from an officer and a shootout ensues. Between March of 2017 to March of 2019, 73 suspects were killed in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and what were later called police encounters. In the aftermath of the shootings, the families of the accused sought financial assistance and demanded punishment for the 10 officers involved in the alleged shootout. The families believed that their sons were killed in what they described as a fake encounter.

Starting point is 00:05:59 In 2022, an inquiry commission that was appointed by the Indian Supreme Court found that the four men were shot with a deliberate intention of causing their deaths. The case was then transferred to the Telangana High Court for further review. As of the day of this recording in 2025, the matter has still not been resolved. A four gang rape and murder accused who were killed in a police encounter in Telangana's Hyderabad were deliberately fired upon with an intent to cause their death is what a Supreme Court appointed. Commission has said today, the Commission recommends that 10 policemen be tried for the murder. So, Arvin, glaring lapses as far as this investigation is concerned. Yeah, Divya, in one of the most infamous encounter or the incident that we saw in 2019 were in 4 accused or suspect who were supposedly involved in the alleged gang-up and murder

Starting point is 00:06:52 of a girl in Telangana were shot dead in an encounter and the police had then told the The Hyderabad Police had then told that those four accused, they snatched the weapons of the policeman, and then they were intending to attack the policeman. And as an act of self-defense, the policeman opened fire in which all these four suspects they died. That was the story that was given by the Hyderabad police. But that was challenged before various courts and the matter also, a PL was also filed in Supreme Court. The commission has made it very clear that this particular story of the Hyderabad police, That is that all those four suspects, they snatched the weapons of the police and then they were supposed to,

Starting point is 00:07:29 they were intending to attack the policeman. It's a concocted story. And also very importantly, the commissioner has also said that out of the four people who are killed in that particular encounter, at least three of them were minors. In fact, the commissioner has also asked all those 10 police officers who involved in this particular encounter to be charged with murder. According to Jalo Shiva's father, Rajapah, we have told the commission that they were killed in a fake encounter. We have been saying it was a fake encounter. Muhammad Reeves' father Hussein noted,

Starting point is 00:07:59 we are saying that the policeman should be punished, just as has to be rendered. Chintakunha Keshavulu's mother added, We are poor people. We don't have any source of income because our sons, who were the breadwinners, were killed. We have not received any assistance from the state government, and hence we want some financial help.

Starting point is 00:08:20 Now, in my opinion, one of the most disheartening things that occurred in the aftermath of Disha's murder, was the fact that the death of her attackers got bigger headlines. While researching her case, there was very little information about Disha's story, while there were dozens of articles about the aftermath. It's also alleged that three of the four suspects were minors, although there are varying accounts as to whether or not this is true.

Starting point is 00:08:46 Either way, this poor young woman, who had her whole life ahead of her, got overshadowed by four pieces of trash, who, in my opinion, got what they deserved. I'm not alone in how I feel about this. Disha's father told reporters that his daughter's soul will finally attain peace. He added, and I quote, I want to congratulate the government of Telingana, the police, and the people who have been supporting me. Disha's sister told reporters, the accused have been encountered, and I feel very happy.

Starting point is 00:09:18 She felt that the incident could serve as a deterrential. for others who might commit such heinous acts. Disha's senseless essay and murder struck a court across India, much like the Gioti Singh case did. If you've not watched our coverage of her story, we will be sure to link the episode in the description and pin comment for you, but we will also give you a quick recap. Gioti Singh was born into a lower middle class family on May 10, 1990 in Delhi, India. She was the eldest of three children and the third. the only daughter of parents Asha Devi and Badronas Singh.

Starting point is 00:09:55 The pair has risked it all to give their children a shot at a better life, selling their plot of farmland in order to pay for their kids to go to school. In turn, the family moved to a slum in Southwest Delhi. On December 16th, 2012, Gioti and her friend of Vindra Pandy went to see the movie The Life of Pie at the PVR Cinema located within the Select City Walk shopping center. After an auto-rickshaw driver refused to bring the pair back to Geode's house, they were dropped off at the Minerka bus stop, hoping to find another way home, but sadly, that would not happen. At 9.30 p.m., Gioti and Avenra boarded a small white yacht of travels bus after being told by a young passenger that the vehicle was headed towards the Dwarca neighborhood.

Starting point is 00:10:40 They paid 10 rupees apiece and joined the six other men on board, which included the driver. The men were described as working-class migrants, and they all were already drunk. A men attacked Avinja first. Boring the reports he was gagged and beaten, subsequently being knocked unconscious with a rusted L-shaped rod used as a wheeljack handle. Vindra later recalled that during the melee, he pounded on the windows of the van in an attempt to alert passing motorists to the attack that was taking place. With Avendra incapacitated, the men set their sights on 22-year-old Gioti. The young woman was dragged by her hair to the back of the bus and beaten with the same rod that had been used to attack her friend.

Starting point is 00:11:22 As the bus driver continued driving on into the night, the men took turns violently essaying Gioti. At one point she fought back, biting her attackers. In response, the men inserted the L-shaped rod inside of Gioti, perforating her uterus and bowels, which caused her intestines to spill outside of her body. According to reports, one of the attackers later testified that he saw a rope-like object being pulled out of Geode's body by another one of the men. They were quite literally disemboweling her with their bare hands.

Starting point is 00:11:57 The gruesome attack went on for the better part of an hour before both Geode and Avenger were thrown from the bus, half-dressed, to die on the side of the road. The men later cleaned the bus in an attempt to destroy the evidence of their crime. Barely conscious and losing hope, Avindra attempted to flag down a passing motorist, but no one would stop for them. But at around 11 p.m., a highway patrol van located the pair and contacted the Delhi police. They were rushed to the Safjar Dung Hospital in New Delhi, where Jody was placed on a ventilator. It was discovered that she only had 5% of her intestines left in her body, and her whole body

Starting point is 00:12:37 was littered with bruises and bite marks from her attackers. What Jody did next earned her the moniker Nurbaya, meaning fearless. Conscious, she scribbled a note on a piece of paper and handed it to her doctors. It said, I want to survive. Jody clung desperately to life so that she could tell the tale of what happened to her. Now, according to the guardian, while she lay in her hospital bed, she told the police, The conductor closed the doors of the bus. He closed the lights of the bus and came towards my friend and started to be.

Starting point is 00:13:11 and beating him. They held his hands and held me and took me to the back of the bus. They tore my clothes and ripped me in turns. They hit me with an iron rod and bit me on my entire body with their teeth. They took all belongings, my mobile phone, purse, credit card, debit card, watches, etc. Six people were interns for nearly one hour in a moving bus. The driver of the us kept changing so that he could also wipe me. Jody had undergone five surgeries to remove what was left of her damaged intestines, but her body couldn't withstand the internal bleeding in sepsis. While on a flight from Delhi to Singapore to receive care at Mount Elizabeth Hospital, which specializes in multi-organ transplant, Jody went into cardiac arrest and never regained consciousness.

Starting point is 00:14:03 The 22-year-old passed away from her injuries on December 26. 2012. You would think that after what happened with GOD Singh, things would have changed in South Asia, but that's clearly not the case. Years that followed not only was Disha assaulted and murdered, but there have been many other cases that have not been widely reported. Most of these cases have far less information than what we have for Dishas. They're quite literally, barely a blurb on a new site. Now, let's be clear here. Everything we're about to touch upon is not in to portray India as this lawless place where murderers run wild. I know I don't look it, but I have family members who were born there decades ago and live there.

Starting point is 00:14:47 They didn't have negative things to say about India, but I've never been there myself, and I would rather leave that kind of commentary for people who have gone there and experienced it for themselves. The purpose of us touching upon the following cases is purely to highlight the fact that India appears to have difficulty publicly documenting some of their more heinous crimes. You can be the one to speculate why that is if you want to, but if you're from India or South Asia, I'd love to hear from you in the comments about your experiences living there. If it were up to us, we would do a video on each one of these victims,

Starting point is 00:15:20 but unfortunately, the following is all we were able to dig up. In the northern state of Rajasthan, a six-year-old girl was essayed and strangled to death with her own belt. The accused was a drunken, 38-year-old man who lured the little girl out of her school, like a literal stranger with candy. As the crispy chicken sandwich from 7-Eleven, people always call me loud. And I'm like, yeah, I know. I'm crispy.

Starting point is 00:15:48 Did you expect me to whisper? If you want quiet, go eat some soup and reflect. Like, I know I'm a handful. I'm bold, I'm juicy. Throw some pickles and barbecue sauce on me, and baby I'm a whole meal. And with seven rewards, I'm just $4. Quiet, no.

Starting point is 00:16:02 Crispy, saucy, and $4? Very. Only at 711. 2326, participating stores only while supplies last see out for full terms. According to Vipin Sharma, who was a senior official with the Rajasthan police, the man killed the girl, so that way she couldn't identify him. In the southern state of Kerala, located west of Sri Lanka, a 40-year-old woman was essayed and killed with a gardening tool.

Starting point is 00:16:27 The police later apprehended a 28-year-old man for the crime. Remember, there is no names available for any of these. Just two days prior to that attack, 12 men attacked a 25-year-old woman in the city of Ranchi. Her alleged crime was that she was sitting with a male friend, much like in GOD Singh's case. The gang of men first incapacitated her male companion before dragging the young woman away and taking turns assaulting her. Most recently in March of 2024, two Spanish and Brazilian travel bloggers were attacked while documenting their travels through India and into Nepal. The attack took place.

Starting point is 00:17:06 in the Jacques-Rond state. And now deleted Instagram video, the victims told their more than 200,000 followers. And I quote, something happened to us that we wouldn't wish on anyone. We were assaulted in the tent. We were beaten. They put a knife to our necks, and she was raped by seven guys. Now, as someone who enjoys traveling, this certainly hits close to home.

Starting point is 00:17:29 Four of the suspects were apprehended, but it's unclear if the other three were ever brought to justice. We are going to keep an eye out for updates on that case if they become available as it's drawn worldwide media attention from both the BBC and Al Jazeera. Ranjana Kumari, who is the director for the Center for Social Research, sat down with CNN for an interview about the systemic issue of violence against women in India. She told reporters, and I quote, It is in the mind of society and men and boys to brutalize women. They get a power kick. If a law and order and enforcement is strong, then the law. starts acting as a deterrent. The politicians make obnoxious statements. They help in creating the

Starting point is 00:18:11 culture. The law is not acting as a deterrent. She added that. If India were to start hanging people for authorities would need to set up gallows the length and breadth of the vast nation of more than 1.3 billion people. According to reports, SA is the fourth most common crime against women in India. According to 2021 figures from the National Crime Records Bureau, 31,67 cases of SA were reported across the country. That is roughly 87 women attacked on a daily basis. 87. However, that figure is likely much higher due to the stigma attached to the crime. Due to perceived shame and dishonor to one's family, the victim of the crime could be murdered in what's known as an honor killing by her own family.

Starting point is 00:19:00 This and the likelihood of the crime falling on deaf ears has led to many attacks not being reported. A prime example of this are the 706 essay cases that were reported in Delhi alone in 2012. Out of those 706 cases, only one case saw a successful conviction, and that is of GOD Singh. However, women and girls in South Asia are not the only victims of these heinous crimes. While researching more up-to-date crime statistics, I unfortunately came across something I never thought I'd ever see in my research. According to reports from multiple news sources, including Vice, the Hindu, and India Today, among others, four men were arrested in April of 2022 for the alleged gang rape of an endangered Bengal monitor lizard. Yes, you heard that correctly. I cannot make any of this up, nor would I want to.

Starting point is 00:20:00 The incident took place on March 29th, 2022 at the Sejadri Tiger Reserve. Forest rangers thought that they were simply investigating a poaching incident after the foremen were spotted on cameras meant to track tigers. The men who were armed with a rifle were arrested for trespassing in the reserve Chandole National Park. This is one of India's most protected pieces of forest. The men who were later identified as Sandeep Poir, men who were later identified as Sandeepoire, Mangesh Kemptakar, Akshay Kemptakar, and Ramesh Gag were taken into custody and charged under India's Wildlife Protection Act of 1972. However, while in police custody, the police discovered something totally unexpected after the men started to roll on one another.

Starting point is 00:20:50 Police found both pictures in video of the men taking turns S. Eng, the endangered lizard, before killing it and eating it. Forest officer Vishal Mali shared with Vice News and I quote, I have never seen a crime like this before. The men are in their 20s and 30s and they appear to have done it for fun. There was no religious or black magic agenda. He later added, not only is this cruel, but there is a risk of zoonotic diseases from this kind of case. There are concerns of men carrying STDs and other infections from their act.

Starting point is 00:21:24 even though their crime could land them with a seven-year sentence, the men were subsequently bailed out, and I've been unable to find out any more information as to where this case stands in 2025. But based on how the justice system treats women and girls in South Asia, I highly doubt anything will come of the essay in killing of protected wildlife. However, this isn't the only case I found. A man essayed and killed a pregnant goat in southern India,

Starting point is 00:21:54 And another 60-year-old man was caught assaulting a stray dog. There's actually been many cases of men attacking not only stray dogs, but cows as well, which are supposed to be sacred. Cats aren't even off-limit. In July of 2020, a group of seven teenage boys in Lahore, Pakistan, passed around a kitten for over a week before it died from multiple organ failure. According to a Pakistani-based NGO called JFK Animal Rescue and Shelter, the assault was so brutal that the kitten's private parts essentially became one opening.

Starting point is 00:22:31 This was the fifth such case that the shelter had faced. On November 1st, 2023, a man in Dedradun, India essayed his landlady's cat. He was thankfully arrested and the cat survived. One of the most recent cases I found was that of a man in the Uttar Pradesh region who was arrested after filming himself assaulting a cat, a king cobra and a human infant. Now, according to reports, between 2010 and 2020, there have been an estimated half a million reported crimes against animals in India,

Starting point is 00:23:05 which include the torture and killing of them. 82 of these cases included essay, but again, these are just cases that were reported. There are very likely many more. Again, we're not solely coming at South Asian countries for these types of crimes, but merely sharing what we found when research, searching statistics. In fact, this crap is more prevalent in the United States than you'd think. Between 2016 and 2022, around 317 arrests related to the essay of animals were reported in the U.S., which represents the highest figure since 1975. A lot of these crimes took place in rural areas

Starting point is 00:23:47 and were inflicted upon domestic animals, but wildlife also fell victim as well. As of the date of this recording in 2025, the state of West Virginia still does not have laws protecting animals from these types of crimes. As not only a woman, but a woman who has a fierce love for animals, I can't help but feel totally powerless when I hear things like this. In close, if you're listening in South Asia, I ask this of you, what can we as a global community do to help? Because this is terrible. Something needs to be done to stop the suffering. We cannot have any more Giotis or Dishas.

The Misery Machine - The Case of Dr. Priyanka Reddy AKA The Hyderabad Nirbhaya

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