Telangana DGP assures to reopen the Rohit Vemula case
Gachibowli: After protests erupted in the University of Hyderabad(UoH) campus and concerns were raised over the integrity of the report, the Telangana Director General of Police assured the reopening of the Rohit Vemula case. Cyberabad police who were investigating the Rohit Vemula abetment to suicide case on Friday, Telangana submitted the final report. The reports claim that Rohit is not a dalit and he is in constant fear that his caste identity might be revealed. This fear forced along with other factors forced him to commit suicide. Following the request from Rohit Vemula’s mother Radhika Vemula, Ambedkar student organization(ASA), UoH and others, DGP issued the order.
In his order, Telangana Director General of Police (DGP) Ravi Gupta assured to reopen the case of Rohit Vemula’s abetment to suicide case booked by Gachibowli police. Notably, the Assistant Commissioner of Police, Madhapur, submitted a report to the court to close the case, citing a ‘lack of evidence’. This was met with strong resistance from the student community of the University of Hyderabad and various Dalit organizations.
On Jan 17, 2016, Rohith Vemula was found dead, hanging from a fan in a room at the NRS hostel of the University of Hyderabad. Dontha Prasanth who was a PHD student, then filed a complaint with Gachibowli police alleging that the cause of death of Vemula Rohith was due to harassment and the atrocities of Prof. Podile Apparao, former vice-chancellor of the University of Hyderabad, Bandaru Dattatreya, (former Member of Parliament, Secunderabad), former BJP MLC, N. Ramchandra Rao, ABVP leaders Krishna Chaitanya, Nandanam Susheel Kumar and Nandanam Diwakar. Gachibowli police registered a case under section 306 (abetment to suicide) and SC/ ST atrocity Act and further investigation.
In a statement released by the Director General of Police (DGP) said, “It is to state that the Investigation Officer in the case was Assistant Commissioner of Police, Madhapur, and the final closure report in the case was prepared last year before November 2023 itself based on the investigation conducted. The final closure report was officially filed in the jurisdictional court on 21.03.2024 by the Investigation Officer.”
The DGP note further added that “As some doubts have been expressed by the mother and others of the deceased Rohit Vemula on the investigation conducted, it has been decided to conduct further investigation into the case. A petition will be filed in the concerned Court requesting the magistrate to permit further investigation into the case.”
