Telangana issue: Police baton charge students during shutdown

HYDERABAD - The situation was tensed up in the Telangana region on Wednesday as police baton charged members of the Students Action Committee, who had called for a shutdown over the suicide committed by students for the Telangana cause and demanded the resignations of all elected representatives from the region.

The students were pelting stones and shouting slogans during the funeral procession of K Venugopal Reddy, a 23-year-old MCA final-year student, who had committed suicide over the Telangana cause.

There are reports that several students have been injured in the police baton charge.

Three people have committed suicide in a span of 24 hours over the Telangana statehood issue

The last person to commit suicide was 40 year-old Sura Nehru Naik. The other two who committed suicide were students.

On Tuesday, angry Osmania University students had placed the body of Reddy outside Arts College and vowed not to allow it to be taken from there until all the MPs and MLAs quit their posts.

Reddy had left a suicide note that said, “I am killing myself because Telangana is not happening. Sonia should immediately grant a separate state.”

The last to commit suicide was 18 year-old Suvarna, a BSc first-year student in Kothakota town of Mahabubnagar district.

Suvarna set herself ablaze on Tuesday night.

The preliminary police investigations said, “Suvarna locked herself in a room and lit herself on fire after pouring kerosene.”

The suicide note left by Suvarna said that she was apprehensive on if Telangana state would be formed or not.

Meanwhile, the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) MLAs sat on a protest outside Speaker N Kiran Kumar Reddy’s residence on Tuesday evening and pressed for the acceptance of their resignations.

On Wednesday, all MLAs and MPs from Telangana have been summoned to Hyderabad. (ANI)