Telangana Police to further investigate Rohith Vemula case: DGP

Hyderabad, May 3: Telangana Police on Friday announced it has decided to conduct further investigation into the case relating to University of Hyderabad research scholar Rohith Vemula's suicide as his family members expressed doubts over the closure report and the probe done so far.

Director General of Police Ravi Gupta, in a statement, said that it has been decided to conduct further investigation into the case and a petition will be filed in the court concerned requesting the magistrate to permit further investigation into the case.

The DGP’s statement came hours after the closure report filed by the police came to light. The report, which denied Vemula was a Dalit, absolved university authorities and leaders of the BJP and the ABVP in the eight-year-old case.

The police chief also stated that the final closure report in the case was prepared before November 2023 based on the investigation conducted, and officially filed in the jurisdictional court on March 21, 2024, by the investigation officer.

The statement by the top cop came after allegations by some students’ organisations that injustice was meted out to Vemula under the newly-elected Congress government.

Stating that multiple issues would have driven him to end his life, the police in its closure report concluded that it found no evidence to establish that the actions of the accused persons drove him to the extreme step.

Vemula’s suicide in his hostel room on January 17, 2016, triggered massive unrest on the central university campus, led to huge protests in universities across the country, and raised questions about the treatment meted out to students from marginalised sections of society.