Telangana DGP Orders Fresh Probe into Rohith Vemula Death Case Amid Mother's Doubts

Rohith Vemula Death Case: After Telangana police submitted a closure report arguing that Vemula was not Dalit and claiming that his suicide was motivated by his fear of being exposed as a member of his "real caste," the Rohith Vemula case made headlines once more.

Reopening of the Case

The police announced on Friday that the case would be reopened more than a month after it was originally filed, citing concerns expressed by Vemula's family among others. Notably, the report cleared everyone who had been charged.

The Director General of Police (DGP) of Telangana made this announcement on Friday. It said that the final report was completed in 2018 and formally submitted to the court's jurisdiction on March 21, 2024.

Doubts Raised by Vemula's Family

DGP Said, "As some doubts have been expressed by the mother and others of the deceased Rohith Vemula on the investigation conducted, it has been decided to conduct further investigation into the case. A petition will be filed in the Court concerned requesting the Hon’ble Magistrate to permit further investigation into the case."

He added, "The Investigation Officer in the case was Asst. Commissioner of Police, Madhapur and the final closure report in the case was prepared last year i.e. 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."

Criticism of Political Exploitation

Ramchander Rao, a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) National Executive Committee and another accused in the case, criticized the Congress at the time for politicising Vemula's death and asked them to apologize.

Ramchander Rao said, “Eight years back, an unfortunate incident occurred in Hyderabad Central University, wherein a student (Rohith Vemula) committed suicide. In his suicide note, he neither blamed any organisation, nor individual."

"Despite that, all the opposition leaders reached the university to mislead students and exploited the issue politically by bringing in the caste factor. Back then, I reached the university and told the VC that these incidents should not happen again. It is the political parties that exploited this issue to blame the BJP government at the Centre,” he told ANI. 

Echoing similar sentiments, BJP leader Ajay Alok said, “It is not about whether Rohith Vemula was a Dalit or not, but it is about why a youth committed suicide. As the central government, we were sensitive then, and we are sensitive now.”

About Rohith Vemula Case

It will be examined further in the case of University of Hyderabad PhD student Rohith Vemula's death in January 2016. This is coming over a month after Telanagana police submitted a closure report. This decision was made public by the state's DGP, who cited concerns expressed by Venula's mother among others. Vemula committed suicide because he was afraid of his "real cast" being discovered, according to the police's closure report, which initially denied that he was Dalit.

Closure Report Findings

In the closure report of the case, which was first brought in 2016 on allegations of aiding suicide and violating the SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, every accused individual was found not guilty. Those connected to the BJP at the time included Union Minister Smriti Irani, MLC N Ramchender Rao, Vice Chancellor P Appa Rao of the University of Hyderabad, and then-Secunderabad MP Bandaru Dattatreya.

Family's Rejection of Accusations

The family has refuted each and every accusation, though. An Indian Express report claims that the brother of Rohith Vemula expressed shock at the closure report. He also asked that the harassment his brother was allegedly subjected to be thoroughly investigated by the authorities. He promised to approach Congressman Rahul Gandhi and Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy for support in reopening the case.

Focus on Caste in Investigation Criticized

“The responsibility of the Telangana Police was to investigate if my brother was harassed to the point that he took his life. Instead, they again went for his caste. We are not going to take this, we are going to fight,” he was quoted as saying by Indian Express.

According to Indian Express, Rohith Vemula's mother, Radhika Vemula, upheld their Scheduled Caste identity, disputing assertions made in the closure report. She reaffirmed that she was prepared for another court case.