Hyderabad: A day after the Telangana police filed a closure report in the case involving the death of PhD scholar, Rohith Vemula, his family petitioned Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy and submitted a representation urging the Congress government in the state to reinvestigate the case.
Radhika Vemula, mother of Rohith Vemula said that the Chief Minister has assured that a fair enquiry will be conducted again adding that "this government will deliver us justice."
Previously, his brother Raja Vemula claimed that the district collector to keep deciding the family's SC status, prompting the police to say that they would conduct a further investigation.
In its closure report on Rohith Vemula's death, the Telangana Police claimed he was not a Dalit and died by suicide in 2016 as he feared that his "real caste" would be discovered. Citing the doubts expressed by Rohith Vemula's family, Telangana Director General of Police Ravi Gupta said in a statement late on Friday that a petition will be filed in the court concerned, requesting the magistrate to permit further investigations.
Raja Vemula told news channels that Telangana High Court gave an option to file a 'protest petition' in the lower court. Whether Rohith Vemula belonged to the Scheduled Caste (SC) community or not should come from the district collector of Guntur in Andhra Pradesh, he said and asked how the police can say he was not an SC.
Raja Vemula also said that they plan to meet Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on the matter. Meanwhile, police chief Gupta said the investigation officer in the case was the Assistant Commissioner of Police, Madhapur, and that the final closure report was prepared before November, based on the investigation conducted.
The final closure report was officially filed in the jurisdictional court on March 21 by the investigation officer, he said in the statement. In its closure report, the police also gave a clean chit to the accused, citing a lack of evidence. The university's then vice-chancellor Appa Rao Podile, former BJP MP Bandaru Dattatreya, BJP ex-MLC N Ramachander Rao, and some ABVP leaders were among the accused.
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