File photo of Rohit Vemula’s mother Radhika Vemula and brother Raja Vemula. | Photo Credit: THULASI KAKKAT
University of Hyderabad research scholar Rohith Vemula Chakravarthy, who ended his life in a hostel room on January 17, 2016had multiple issues worrying him and they would have driven him to end his life. This is the conclusion of the closure report filed by the Gachibowli police of the Cyberabad Police Commissionerate. And no evidence was found to establish that the actions of the accused persons drove him to the extreme step, the report noted.
The Gachibowli police, collating its various findings, including contentions whether Rohith Vemula belonged to a Scheduled Caste, and if the accused persons — members of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, Bharatiya Janata Party, and the university top officials — were responsible for his suicide, cited ‘lack of evidence’ and filed the closure report before the court on March 21. A copy of the report was obtained by The Hindu on Friday.
According to the report, the police investigated 11 broad questions, primarily the allegations made by complainant in the case research scholar and leader of Ambedkar Students’ Association Dontha Prashanth.
Firstly, the police ruled out that Rohith Vemula belonged to a Scheduled Caste.
“In fact, the ‘caste clarification report’ by the District Level Scrutiny Committee constituted by District Collector, Guntur, conclusively decided that Rohith Vemula and his family belong to BC-A (Vaddera) caste. They had obtained Scheduled Caste certificates fraudulently,” it stated.
The police stated that it has also examined if the victim was driven to end his life due to the harassment by the Vice-Chancellor and other officials, then Union Minister Bandaru Dattatreya who wrote to then Minister for Education Smriti Irani, and if ABVP president N. Susheel Kumar, his relative BJP (Rangareddy) district president N. Diwakar, and BJP MLC Ramchander Rao, put pressure on the University to compel and take action on Rohith Vemula and others.
Observations were also drawn from the letters Rohith Vemula addressed to the Vice-Chancellor, the suicide note, record and discrepancies related to his scholarship disbursal, and the University Board’s recommendations and disciplinary action.
The investigating police further relied on the inquiry and findings in the report of the Commission headed by retired Justice Ashok Kumar Roopanwala, which deliberated ‘whether the punishment awarded to Rohith Vemula was the circumstance to commit suicide?’
“It appears from the record that the punishment was challenged in the High Court and the suicide was committed when the matter was pending in court. My view is also that the suicide did not relate to any activities of the university administration or the above political leaders, including Vice-Chancellor Appa Rao Podile. It was wholly a decision of his own. His suicide note is on the record, which shows that Rohith Vemula had his own problems and was not happy with the worldly affairs,” the report states.
On the cause of suicide, the police, which fully attributing to the suicide note and the letter Rohith Vemula addressed to the VC, inferred:
“The deceased was disappointed and unhappy over his childhood; The deceased seemed to be unhappy with the organisations with which he worked; The deceased also seemed to be under severe depression and disappointment; It appears that he was involved more in student political issues in the campus rather than in his studies; The deceased himself is aware that he does not belong to Scheduled Caste and that his mother got him SC certificate, and it could be one of the constant fears as the exposure of the same would put him to loss of his academic degrees that he earned over the years and be compelled to face prosecution.”
