More than a month after the Telangana police filed a closure report in their investigation into the January 2016 death of University of Hyderabad PhD scholar Rohith Vemula, the state Director General of Police said they have decided to conduct further investigations as “some doubts have been expressed” by Vemula’s mother and others.
The closure report filed by the police had claimed that Vemula was not a Dalit and that it was likely the fear that his “real caste” would be revealed was what led him to suicide. It had also absolved all those accused in the case.
In a statement on Friday, DGP Ravi Gupta said the final report in the case was prepared in 2018, and that it was officially submitted in the jurisdictional court on March 21, 2024.
“As some doubts have been expressed by the mother and others of the deceased, Rohit 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,” the DGP’s statement said.
Police had filed a case in 2016 on charges of abetment to suicide and under the SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. In the closure report, police had absolved the accused of all charges. The accused included then Secunderabad MP Bandaru Dattatreya, MLC N Ramchender Rao, and Union minister Smriti Irani – all BJP leaders – as well as then University of Hyderabad Vice Chancellor P Appa Rao.
Raja Vemula, Rohith’s brother, said the family had been shocked by the closure report. “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 said.
Raja said the family would approach Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, “who have supported us in the past, to reopen the case”.
Rohith Vemula’s mother Radhika Vemula maintained that she and her children belonged to a Scheduled Caste community. “I have always said that we belong to the SC Mala community, and I was raised in an OBC family. There is no disputing that we are SCs,” she said, adding that she was prepared for another fight.
Appa Rao, who was the University of Hyderabad V-C at the time of Vemula’s death, said there was “nothing to be pleased or happy” in being absolved by the police report.
“I faced a tough time, but that is okay and I have left it behind now. My term as V-C was over in June 2021. Since then, I have been a professor teaching in the Life Sciences Department. I don’t want to be dragged into commenting on what the police report says,” he said.
BJP National Executive Committee member Ramchander Rao criticised the Congress, saying the party tried to politicise Vemula’s suicide. “What was there in this case that our names were dragged into it? The Congress tried to politicise it and took advantage of the unfortunate suicide of the youngster. Rahul Gandhi and Arvind Kejriwal, and all the ‘Urban Naxals’ who exploited Rohith’s death and his family for their political gains should apologise to Rohith’s family. I express my sympathies…it was very unfortunate,” he said.
The police’s closure report said there was no evidence that anyone was responsible for Vemula’s suicide. It also claimed that the caste certificates submitted by Vemula were forged and that he did not belong to the SC category. It alleged that his mother had helped him get an SC certificate.
The report also claimed that Vemula feared his real caste would be revealed, and that this would lead to the loss of his academic achievements, suggesting that this was what led to his suicide.
Vemula was found dead in a room in the university campus on January 17, 2016.
He had previously been expelled from his hostel room after allegedly being involved in an altercation with some members of the RSS-affiliated students body, ABVP. Then MP Bandaru Datttareya was accused of putting pressure on V-C Appa Rao to punish Vemula after this incident, and the matter was allegedly followed up by MLC Ramchender Rao and Union minister Irani.
Days before his death, Vemula had written a letter to the V-C alleging that he was facing harassment, false cases and complaints.
Vemula’s death had led to nationwide protests and tributes. Students and activists from across the country took to the streets against the University of Hyderabad’s treatment of Vemula, and more broadly, against the treatment of Dalits in academia.
His suicide letter, in which he called his birth “a fatal accident”, had been widely read and shared.
In 2023, the Congress promised that if voted back to power, it would enact a special Act named after Rohith Vemula to protect and safeguard the rights of SC/STs and OBCs to education and dignity.
The closure report filed by the Telangana police came months after the Congress formed the government in the state after winning last year’s Assembly polls.
Rohith Vemula was found dead in a room in the university campus on January 17, 2016. (Express Photo by Tashi Tobgyal) 
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