KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 25 — A transgender woman who was brutally murdered in Kuantan last Thursday was a victim of kidnapping two years ago, with the case against her alleged abductors set to come up in court next month.

According to The Star, Sameera Krishnan, 26, was the main witness in her own kidnapping case, for which two men were charged and were set to face the court from March 20 to March 23.

The two men are P Ganesan and S Vegeniswaran, who are facing charges under Section 3(1) of the Kidnapping Act 1961, which carries a mandatory death sentence.

Another two men wanted for the same case remain at large, the report said.

She was believed to be abused and violated after being kidnapped at her Klang apartment in February 2015, but was rescued by police eventually when her captors met with a minor accident with another car at the Sungai Rasau toll.

Sameera relocated to Kuantan after her ordeal, according to the report.

Sameera, who worked at a flower shop in Kuantan, was found with a gunshot wound and with her body mutilated in the early hours of February 23.

She had four fingers on her right hand severed, had severe head injuries and was shot in posterior.

The brutality of the murder have led to activists branding it as a "hate crime”.