Telangana Police filed a closure report on Thursday, concluding its investigation into the death of Rohith Vemula, a PhD scholar at the University of Hyderabad who took his own life in January 2016.
According to the police's investigation, Vemula's suicide was driven by the fear of his true caste being disclosed, as he identified himself as belonging to the Scheduled Caste category.
The report absolves former Hyderabad University Vice Chancellor Appa Rao and BJP leaders, including the then Secunderabad MP Bandaru Dattatreya, Union Minister Smriti Irani, former MLC N Ramachander Rao, and ABVP leaders.
Telangana Police, in their report submitted to the court, mentioned that Rohith Vemula was aware that he did not belong to the Scheduled Caste (SC) community and that his mother obtained an SC certificate for him. The fear of exposure and the potential loss of academic degrees, along with the prospect of prosecution, could have contributed to his decision to end his life, the report stated.
“If the studies of the deceased were seen, it appeared that he was involved more in student political issues in the campus rather than in his studies. He discontinued his first Ph.D after pursuing it for 2 years and he joined another Ph.D which also did not progress much because of non academic activities,” a News18 report quoted the police report as saying.
“In addition to this, the deceased himself is aware that he does not belong to Scheduled Caste and that his mother got him SC certificate. This could be one of the constant fears as the exposure the same would put him to loss of his academic degrees that he earned over the years and be compelled to face prosecution,” the police report read further.
The investigation found no evidence linking the accused individuals to driving Vemula to suicide.
Reacting to the police's claims, Rohith Vemula's brother, Raja, criticized the report as "wrong." He announced plans to meet Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy on Saturday to file a protest petition and explore further options.
"It is absolutely wrong, a police officer cannot decide on a person's caste. We are going to meet Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy on Saturday. We will file a protest petition and other options will also be taken up," Raja Vemula said as quoted by India Today.
After closure report, Hyderabad Central Univerity Student Union holds a protest against Telangana Police's reports.