Telangana state supporter in India laid to rest

Hyderabad:  The last wish of a student who committed suicide over the delay in formation of a separate Telangana state was fulfilled when his funeral procession was allowed to be taken to Gun Park near the Andhra Pradesh state assembly here.

Amid tight security, the body of Sai Kumar, a second year B. Tech student of Osmania University, was brought to Gun Park on Tuesday night to enable supporters of the Telangana movement to pay their last respects.

Sai Kumar's body was later taken to his native village Kodad in Nalgonda district where the last rites were performed yesterday.

The student hanged himself in his hostel room on Tuesday to protest the delay in carving out a Telangana state. In his suicide note, he expressed the wish that his body be taken in a procession to the assembly.

The suicide triggered fresh tension in Osmania University, the nerve centre of the ongoing Telangana movement, as students clashed with police at Gandhi Hospital when the latter did not allow them to take the body to assembly. Some students were injured when police used batons.

Petition

It was late on Tuesday that the State Human Rights Commission, on a petition by the Joint Action Committee of students, directed police to allow the funeral procession to Gun Park at 11 pm. The students then brought the body to Telangana Martyrs' Memorial.

M. Kodandaram, convener of all-party Joint Action Committee, and leaders of pro-Telangana groups offered their respects. The students raised slogans against political parties and elected representatives.

This was the third suicide for Telangana on the Osmania University campus. On February 20, a student of Class 12 immolated himself at the main entrance of the university to protest the delay in formation of Telangana state. He resorted to the extreme step in full public view.

Suicide

In January, a MCA (master of computer applications) student set himself on fire in the university campus. His burnt body was found on January 19.

Parties fighting for the separate state claim that over 300 have committed suicide in the region since protests began in November last year.