Hyderabad: As soon as the news of Murali’s suicide spread, hundreds of students from the campus and students’ union leaders rushed to the spot and blocked the police from shifting the body for a post-mortem.
The hostel turned into a fortress with the police forces, including teams from Telangana state special police and the Rapid Action Force. Amidst the commotion, Prof. Kodandaram and retired Justice Chandra Kumar visited the hostel and expressed their condolences to Murali’s family. They said that unemployment is incre-asing in the state and the government should take steps to control it. Prof Kodandaram also sought ex gratia to the victim’s family.
Students union members alleged that Murali committed suicide due to unemployment in the state and said the police replaced his original suicide note.
“The handwriting is mismatching. To divert the attention, the police is resorting to this. This is nothing but a murder by the state,” said Srisailam of OU JAC. Mr Kalyan, chairman of Nirudyoga JAC, demanded '1 crore ex-gratia to Murali’s family and a job for his family members. “We also demand an autopsy by the forensic experts in the campus. If the body moves out of the hostel, the facts will be diluted.” he said.
When the police tried to shift the body from the hostel bathroom, student started raising slogans against the government and the Chief Minister. They also demanded the additional forces to move out of the hostel.
Senior cops at the spot said intelligence wing have collected details and sent to the Government and were awaiting for the instructions on the next move.
Victim was depressed: Cops
Eramaina Murali, 21, a first-year PG student at Osmania University, committed suicide in the Maneru Hostel on the campus on Sunday.
The suicide of K. Srikanth Chary on December 3, eight years ago, had triggered the intensification of the Telangana statehood movement, which forced the Centre to initiate the process of formation of Telangana state on December 9, 2009.
Murali, a native of Doulapur village of Jagdevpur mandal in Siddipet district, had joined the M.Sc Physics programme at Osmania University. He was in the first semester of his first year.
On Monday, at around 3.30 pm, one of the inmates of the hostel went to the bathroom located on the first floor. When he tried to enter the last stall, he found that he was unable to open the door fully. When he peeped inside, he found Murali was hanging from shoelaces tied to a hook on the wall. He alerted Murali’s roommates, who informed the cops.
Before the cops could arrive, news spread and students from across the university, and outside, rushed to the spot.
“He hanged himself due to depression. We are verifying other angles as well. The investigation will proceed, in a fair manner, based on all the evidence,” said ACP Narsaiah, who inspected the scene.
Police also recovered a note from Murali’s pocket, which was purportedly written by him. “All the pieces of evidence recovered from the spot are being sent for forensic analysis,” said another official at the spot.
