All-party leaders and cadres – except the TRS – launched a relay hunger strike in front of the Collectorate office here on Monday, demanding an inquiry by a sitting judge or CBI or CBCID into the alleged suspicious accidental deaths of Dalit youths Talari Satyam and Chepuri Ravi at Armoor on January 9.
Among those who were part of the hunger strike included former MP and AICC official spokesman Madhu Yaskhi Goud, MLC Akula Lalitha Raghavender, B. Mahesh Kumar Goud, DCC president Taher bin Hamdan and former president Gadugu Gangadhar from the Congress, Dandi Venkat from the CPI(M), V. Prabhakar and B. Devaram from CPI-ML-New Democracy, D. Rajaram Yadav from the TDP, and Yedla Ramu from BSP.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Madhu Yaskhi expressed surprise over the “irresponsibility” of the police despite the parents of the victims having complained to the police firmly believing that the death of the two youth was not accidental, “but they were killed” by hitting the motorbike in which they were travelling on with a tipper belonging to a relative of the MLA.
Thus, the MLA eliminated his rival Satyam, who unsuccessfully contested against him in the election from the RPI and who had also filed a case in the High Court alleging that the former concealed the facts about a criminal case against him in a Gulf country in the affidavit submitted to the Returning Officer in the general elections.
The speakers alleged that earlier too, the police harassed Satyam using his disputes in the family and raided his house at midnight to please the ruling party leader.
Contrary to their known general behavior in such cases, the police unusually descended on the accident spot within 10 minutes and shifted the bodies to the hospital without conducting an inquest, they alleged.
The SIM card and memory card in the mobiles of the victims were missing, raising suspicions, and police did not take the statement from the victim’s families.
Till date, no case was registered on the complaint lodged by Talari Gangadhar alias Bakkanna, father of Satyam, said the all-party leaders.
Therefore, they demanded the government sanction an ex-gratia of Rs. 50 lakh to each bereaved family, register case under SC, ST Atrocity (Prevention) Act against the accused, order an inquiry by a sitting judge, or the CBI or the CBCID, and also investigate into the alleged cooperation of the police officers in the case.
