Another student commits suicide for Telangana

Hyderabad: Fresh trouble over Telangana broke out yesterday and parts of Hyderabad were gripped by tension when another student of Osmania University committed suicide protesting the delay in the formation of Telangana state.

M. Sai Kumar, a second year engineering student, hanged himself in his room in technology hostel of Osmania University.

In his suicide note Sai Kumar, a resident of Kodad in Nalgonda district, blamed the "betrayal" by the Telangana politicians for the delay in the formation of the state.

"I am dying for the sake of four crore [40 million] people of Telangana," he wrote in his one page letter. Sai, a son of a farmer, was studying chemical engineering in the College of Engineering and Technology of Osmania University.

As the news of his death spread, thousands of students came out of class rooms boycotting the exams and rushed to Gandhi Hospital where Vice-Chancellor Tirupati Rao became the first target of their wrath.

Students did not allow him to see the body of Sai Kumar and shouted slogans against him.

Later the students' anger was targeted at the politicians specially the MLAs and MPs who did not resign even after making announcements several times to do so.

Tension mounted at Osmania University and additional forces were to the campus, where the situation had returned to near normal over the last fortnight.

This is the third suicide by a student from Nalgonda district in Osmania University campus on the issue of Telangana during last three months.

Venugopala Reddy, a student from Nalgonda, had committed self immolation in Osmania University campus on January 19 in support of Telangana.

One more junior college student Yadaiah of Ranga Reddy district self immolated on February 20 on the Osmania campus, which has become the hot bed of Telangana movement since November last week.

Students warned

Authorities in Andhra Pradesh have warned students appearing for Intermediate (Plus two) examinations against writing slogans like ‘Jai Telangana' or ‘Jai Andhra' on their answer sheets, saying that such an act will be seen as a malpractice and culprits would be debarred.

The pro-Telangana students on the other hand have taken to the streets demanding their answer sheets should not be sent out of Telangana region for evaluation, alleging injustice would be done to them by the teachers of other regions.

The examinations of Intermediate first and second year are set to begin today with more than 1.7 million students appearing.