6 TRS leaders arrested after mother-son duo die by suicide

The 40-year-old man and his 63-year-old mother were found burnt to death in a local hotel on Saturday. According to police, he had left an alleged suicide note and also posted a video on his Facebook alleging that the TRS leaders and a police inspector were harassing him for a share in his business.

Six Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) leaders, including a municipal council chairman, were arrested on Wednesday for allegedly abetting the suicide of a 40-year-old real estate agent and his mother in Ramayampet town of Kamareddy district, a senior police officer said.

The Kamareddy police had registered a case against the accused under Section 306 (abetment of suicide) of the Indian Penal Code.

The 40-year-old man and his 63-year-old mother were found burnt to death in a local hotel on Saturday. According to police, he had left an alleged suicide note and also posted a video on his Facebook alleging that the six TRS leaders and a police inspector were harassing him for a share in his business.

“After three days of intense search, we arrested six out of the seven persons named by the deceased in their suicide note. The arrested were produced before a local court in Kamareddy, which sent them to judicial custody,” Kamareddy deputy superintendent of police M Somanatham told reporters on Wednesday.

Police identified the arrested accused as: Ramayampet municipal chairman Palle Jitender Goud, agriculture market committee chairman Saraf Yadagiri, Prithivi Goud Ireni, Thota Kiran, Kannapuram Krishna Goud and Saraf Swaraj.

“Another accused, police inspector Tanduri Nagarjuna Goud, who worked as Ramayampet inspector until a few months ago and was later transferred to Tungaturthy in Suryapet district, is absconding,” the DSP said.

The Kamareddy police had registered a case against the accused under Section 306 (abetment of suicide) of the Indian Penal Code. While submitting the remand report on Wednesday, the police also filed a petition in the court seeking custody of the accused.

On Saturday morning, the Ramayampet police received a call from local residents about thick smoke emanating from a room in a local hotel in the town. The police, along with fire department staff reached the spot. After dousing the fire, they found the charred bodies of a man and a woman.

In the suicide note, the mother-son duo said they were forced to die by suicide due to alleged harassment by the seven accused over the last one-and-a-half years. The 40-year-old man alleged that the TRS leaders were demanding 50% share in his real estate business and were threatening to foist false cases against him. He also posted pictures of all the accused on his Facebook account.

After conducting a post-mortem at the Kamareddy government hospital, the police shifted the two bodies to their native place in Medak for a funeral. All seven accused were absconding since the incident, DSP Somanathan said.

The incident sparked protests from family members and friends of the victims.They staged demonstrations in Ramayampet demanding the immediate arrest of the accused and stringent action against them.

The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has demanded stringent action against the accused. A party delegation met Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan at the Raj Bhavan on Wednesday afternoon and submitted a memorandum seeking a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry into the incident.

“They are not suicides, but a government-abetted murders. The accused in the case are TRS leaders and a police inspector. Justice cannot be done with the inquiry by the local police. We want a CBI inquiry into the case,” BJP general secretary G Premender Reddy said.

TRS spokesman and MLC Palle Rajeshwar Reddy could not be reached for comment.

The governor assured the BJP delegation of appropriate action in the matter.