On Saturday, Rohith Vemula’s mother Radhika Vemula met Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy and requested him to ensure that the family receives justice. The chief minister has agreed to conduct another investigation into the 2016 suicide of the University of Hyderabad student and has promised that justice will be served, according to an official release. Raja Vemula, Rohith Vemula’s brother, told PTI Videos that the chief minister has guaranteed a fair and transparent investigation. He expressed belief that justice would be done under the present Congress government.
Raja Vemula also said that they have opposed the police’s closure report and raised concerns regarding the issues mentioned in the report. He added that the competent authority to clarify on the caste status is the district Collector of Guntur in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, not the police. They also asked for cases filed against some other students to be cancelled.
Police have filed a closure report before a local court in the investigation into the death of Rohith Vemula, claiming that he was not a Dalit and died by suicide in 2016 as he feared that his “real caste” would be discovered. However, Telangana DGP Ravi Gupta has already announced plans to conduct further investigation into the case due to doubts expressed by Rohith Vemula’s mother and others on the closure report. He said a petition would be filed in the court requesting the Magistrate to permit further investigation. The police gave a clean chit to the accused, including incumbent Haryana Governor Bandaru Dattatreya and former BJP MLC N Ramchander Rao, citing a lack of evidence in the case.
