August 20, 2026 04:00 pm (IST)
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Rohith Vemula death: HRD Ministry asks Hyderabad varsity to respond to VIP complaints
Hyderabad, Jan 19 (IBNS): Union Human Resource Development Ministry on Tuesday directed the Hyderabad Central University to respond to 'VIP complaints' as massive student protests were held across the country over the death 26-year-old research scholar Rohith Vemula.
Rohith committed suicide at the Hyderabad Central University on Sunday.
This comes after political pressures are escalating over the matter.
Earlier in the day, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi arrived at the Hyderabad University campus and attacked the VC and the Union Ministers in Delhi over the death of the student.
Rohith's suicide has triggered a political storm with two central ministers, Smriti Irani and Bandaru Dattatreya, facing allegations that their pressure led to action against the student.
Rohith and the four other students were suspended and asked to stay away from the hostel for allegedly beating an activist from the BJP's student wing Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad in August, during a protest on campus against the execution of 1993 Mumbai blasts convict Yakub Memon.
The students had earlier been cleared by the university. But four months later in December, the university reversed its decision and took action against the students.
Protesters allege that the university's decision was linked to a letter that Bandaru Dattatreya, the BJP parliamentarian from Secunderabad, wrote to Education Minister Smriti Irani alleging that the university had become a "den of casteist, extremist and anti-national politics".
After Dattatreya's letter, four letters went to the university from Smriti Irani's Human Resource Development ministry, asking what action had been taken.
Bandaru Dattatreya has been named in a police complaint and has been accused of compelling the university to punish Rohith and his comrades. Students and activists have been protesting outside his home.
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