Telangana police says Rohith Vemula not a Dalit, absolves all accused in closure report

Hyderabad: The Telangana Police closed their investigation into the death of Rohith Vemula, a University of Hyderabad (UoH) scholar who ended his life in 2016.

According to the closure report, Vemula was not a Dalit and he might have taken the extreme step out of fear that his ‘real caste’ would come to light — he belonged to the Backward Class (BC) community and not the Scheduled Caste (SC).

Citing lack of evidence, the police gave a clean chit to the accused in the case, including the then UoH vice chancellor K Appa Rao, former Secunderabad BJP MP and current Haryana Governor Bandaru Dattatreya, and Union Minister Smriti Irani.

Vemula’s suicide on January 17, 2016, triggered a nationwide uproar, with the BJP-led Union government coming under fire from the Opposition.

Terming the closure report wrong, Vemula’s brother Raja said he would approach CM Revanth Reddy for justice and file a protest petition in the relevant court.

The police submitted the closure report to the Court of Special Sessions Judge for Trial of Cases under the SC/ST (POA) Act on Thursday evening. The report came to light on Friday.

According to the report, police investigated 11 broad questions, primarily the allegations made by complainant Dontha Prashanth, a research scholar and leader of the Ambedkar Students’ Association. The report said Vemula himself was aware that he did not belong to the Scheduled Caste and that his mother got him an SC certificate. “This could be one of his constant fears, as exposure to the same would put him at risk of losing the academic degrees that he earned over the years and being compelled to face prosecution. Thus, the deceased had multiple issues worrying him, which could have driven him to commit suicide,” it said.

The report further said that Vemula appeared to be more involved in political issues on campus than studies. He discontinued his first PhD after two years and joined another PhD, which also did not progress much because of non-academic activities.

Citing the content of the suicide note, police said Vemula was unhappy with the Left-affiliated organisations in which he worked. “In his words, ...ASA, SFI, anything and everything exists for their own sake. Seldom do the interests of a person and these organisations match,” said the report. It also cited the findings of a one-man judicial commission led by former Allahabad High Court judge AK Roopanwal. The judicial commission that investigated the incident months later determined that Vemula was a Vaddera BC, his father’s caste, and not a Mala SC.

However, the then National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) chairman PL Punia asserted that Vemula was a Dalit and rejected the judicial commission’s report, calling it fake and fictitious.

The police report further said that the then VC Appa Rao did not discriminate against Vemula and others based on caste, as there were no allegations against him.

Several political leaders, including Congress’ Rahul Gandhi, had reached Hyderabad to express solidarity with students protesting against the UoH administration and the HRD Ministry for allegedly driving Vemula to death by suicide. In November 2022, Vemula’s mother Radhika joined Rahul’s Hyderabad leg of Bharat Jodo Yatra.