Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) President and Nalgonda MP, N. Uttam Kumar Reddy has alleged that top TRS leadership was behind the murder of the lawyer couple Gattu Vaman Rao and Nagamani. He also questioned the silence of the Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao in condemning the brutal daylight killings.
He suspected the involvement of TRS-backed sand mafia behind the murder.
Speaking to reporters here, he said the Congress party would meet Chief Justice of Telangana High Court Hima Kohli and also write a letter to Chief Justice of Supreme Court S.A. Bobde seeking a CBI enquiry on the murder.
The TPCC chief claimed that the lawyer couple was murdered to cover up a lock-up death of a Dalit, Sheelam Rangaiah in Manthani. Rangaiah was allegedly killed due to third degree torture by the Manthani Police on May 26, 2020. Advocate Nagamani wrote an email to the Chief Justice alleging that Rangaiah died due to custodial torture. The letter was treated as Public Interest Litigation by the High Court and on May 27, 2020 and directed Hyderabad Police Commissioner M. Anjani Kumar to personally investigate the case and he submitted a report before the High Court on June 19, 2020. Since the report was confidential, the High Court permitted Nagamani to take the notes from the report to file her counter to the said report.
Uttam Kumar Reddy said that the then Chief Justice Raghvendra Singh Chauhan and Justice B. Vijaysen Reddy, in their order dated September 11,2020, mentioned that Nagamani had complained that she and her husband was being constantly harassed by the police, both at Manthani, which is their native place, and in Hyderabad.
The TPCC chief reminded that Nagamani had charged the police with implicating them in false cases apart from threat calls by the Police Department to withdraw the lockup death case. He said the lawyer couple had also filed several cases against TRS party's Peddapalli Zilla Parishad chairman Putta Madhukar and also ineligibility case against Manthani municipal chairperson Putta Shailaja, wife of Madhukar. These facts clearly show that the murders were politically motivated to silence the whistle-blowers. He also alleged that Ramagundam Police Commissioner Satyanarayana is behaving like a TRS worker.
Revanth faults KCR
Meanwhile, Congress MP and Parliament member A. Revanth Reddy alleged that the murders are a direct result of the instigation of the ruling party leaders against their opponents.
Speaking to reporters in New Delhi he faulted the statements of Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao in Haliya meeting, Minister K.T. Rama Rao and MLA Balka Suman of not sparing anyone who raise their voice against the government. They should be booked for their provocative statements that have emboldened the TRS activists, he claimed.
The Congress MP said the accused, Kunta Srinivas, was the mandal president of the party, and alleged that such people had the backing of top leaderships in silencing the opposition. He also questioned the lethargy shown by the police in reacting to the daylight murder. None of the senior officers visited the spot and junior officers who went did not protect the crime scene, he alleged
Congress MLC T. Jeevan Reddy demanded that the Chief Minister should respond on the murders and explain the reasons for such anarchy in the State. He recalled Mr. Rao’s speech in the Haliya meeting and said the CM threatened to crush the opposition and such language of the top leader had given courage to such murderous elements.
Mr. Reddy also attacked the police saying they have become “TRS-friendly” rather than “people-friendly.”
‘Murder politics’
At a separate press conference, Nalgonda MP, Komatireddy Venkatreddy said the TRS is now resorting to murder politics and stifling the questioning voices. The accused Kunta Srinivas participated in the birthday celebrations of the Chief Minister and went straight to kill the lawyers, he alleged. "Is this the Golden Telangana that TRS is promoting," he asked.
Former Minister G. Chinna Reddy said the murders are a reflection of the sand mafia spreading its tentacles in the State and the unfortunate silence of the government. The complicity of the police is also suspected as the couple were fighting against the police in a lockup death case.
