'Rohith Vemula not Dalit,' cops file closure report, give clean chit to all accused

In the report, the police have not only said that the University of Hyderabad student did not belong to Scheduled Castes and his certificate was forged but also that he died by suicide as he feared being exposed.

Citing doubts raised by Vemula's family, the Telangana Director General of Police later released a statement saying they have decided to investigate the case further.

The accused in the case included then University of Hyderabad vice-chancellor Appa Rao and BJP leaders like then Secunderabad MP and Union Minister Bandaru Dattatreya and MLC N Ramchender Rao in the case. All of them have been absolved of all charges.

Vemula had died by suicide on January 17, 2016, after he was rusticated by the University of Hyderabad and, in its complaint, the Ambedkar Students' Association - of which Vemula was a member - had alleged that Dattatreya had influenced then Union Education Minister Smriti Irani to take action against Dalit students at the University.

In the closure report, the Telangana Police said, "IrThe deceased himself was aware that he did not belong to Scheduled Caste and that his mother had got him an SC certificate. This could be one of the constant fears as the exposure of the same would result in a loss of his academic degrees that he earned over the years and be compelled to face prosecution."

The closure report was filed on March 21 but came to light on Friday, just 10 days before polling in all 17 Lok Sabha seats in Telangana on May 13. Telangana has a Congress government now and was ruled by the Bharat Rashtra Samithi before that.

The Congress had supported the protests seeking justice for Vemula with senior party leader Rahul Gandhi visiting the campus, as had Aam Aadmi Party convenor Arvind Kejriwal and AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi. Gandhi had also raised the issue in Parliament.

Rohith Vemula's family, which had alleged that he died by suicide as he was harassed based on his caste identity by members of the BJP-linked Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and others, has accused the police of investigating the student's caste status instead of the treatment allegedly meted out to him.

In a statement released later on Friday, Telangana Director General of Police Ravi Gupta said the final report in the case was prepared in the year 2018 based on the probe conducted by the investigation officer - the Assistant Commissioner of Police, Madhapur - and the final report was filed by him on March 21.

"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 Honourable Magistrate to permit further investigation into the case," the statement said.