The Telangana Police concluded its investigation into the death of Rohith Vemula, a PhD scholar at the University of Hyderabad, by filing a closure report. Vemula tragically ended his life in January 2016. According to the police's findings, Vemula's suicide was driven by his fear of his true caste being disclosed, as he identified himself as belonging to the Scheduled Caste category. This fear was exacerbated by Union Minister Bandaru Dattatreya's letter to the Ministry of Human Resource Development in 2015, which alleged "casteist, extremist, and anti-national politics" at the university and led to accusations of abetment to suicide.
The closure report absolved former Hyderabad University Vice Chancellor Appa Rao and several BJP leaders, including Bandaru Dattatreya, Union Minister Smriti Irani, former MLC N Ramachander Rao, and ABVP leaders, of any wrongdoing in relation to Vemula's death.
According to the report submitted to the court, Vemula was aware that he did not belong to the Scheduled Caste community, and his mother had obtained an SC certificate for him. The fear of this information being exposed and the potential consequences, such as losing his academic degrees and facing prosecution, likely contributed to his decision to end his life. Additionally, Vemula had multiple other personal issues that could have also played a role in his suicide.
The police stated that they found no evidence to support the claim that the actions of the accused individuals had driven Vemula to take his own life. However, Vemula's brother, Raja, disputed the police's claims, calling them "wrong." He announced plans to meet with Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy to file a protest petition and explore other options to challenge the closure of the investigation.
