The Telangana DGP has ordered further investigation into Rohith Vermula's death case after the family of the deceased raised questions on the closure report.
The Telangana Police submitted a closure report of Dalit student Rohith Vermula's death case on Friday citing that he was not actually a Dalit and the reason behind his suicide was to hide his real caste.
The Telangana DGP has ordered further investigation into Rohith Vermula's death case after the family of the deceased raised questions on the closure report.
Vermula's mother met Telangana CM Revanth Reddy on Saturday to request for 'justice' to their family.
The Telangana Police submitted a closure report of Dalit student Rohith Vermula's death case on Friday citing that he was not actually a Dalit and the reason behind his suicide was to hide his real caste.
Telangana Director General of Police (DGP) Ravi Gupta has ordered further investigation into the Rohith Vemula death case following concerns raised by the deceased's mother and brother regarding the police's closure report.
Simultaneously, a court petition has been submitted seeking permission from the Magistrate to reopen the Rohith Vemula death case.
According to News 18 report, the DGP said, “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."
Providing additional details about the case, he mentioned that the case was first reported to the Gachibowli Police Station in Cyberabad after Rohith was discovered dead in his hostel room at Hyderabad Central University on January 17, 2016.
He further explained that the investigation was led by the Assistant Commissioner of Police, Madhapur, and a final report was compiled in 2018 based on the findings from the investigation.
Rohith Vemula's mother Radhika Vemula met Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy here on Saturday and urged him to see that "justice" is done to the family.
Reddy assured her that an investigation would be conducted again into the University of Hyderabad student's suicide in 2016 and that justice would be done, an official release said.
The family of University of Hyderabad student Rohith Vemula on Friday said it will legally contest the Telangana Police's closure report in his 2016 suicide case.
His brother Raja Vemula claimed the district collector has to decide on the family's SC status, prompting the police to say that they will conduct a further investigation.
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.
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.
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.