The CPI-M on Wednesday denounced the killing of five undertrial prisoners in Telangana as "premeditated killings" and said the "brazen murders ... cannot be swept under the carpet".
"These premeditated killings (on Tuesday) seem to be an act of revenge for the deaths of two police personnel in an earlier encounter with some former SIMI activists," it said in a statement.
"These brazen murders in police custody cannot be swept under the carpet," the Communist Party of India-Marxist said.
It sought a high-level enquiry into the incident and exemplary action against the guilty police officials.
The five young prisoners were being taken to court from Warangal jail to Hyderabad when the incident took place in Nalgonda district.
"Midway they were shot inside the police van in what seems to be a staged encounter," the CPI-M said.
