Vexed over the Centre’s inordinate delay in announcing separate Telangana State, a first year student of VITS Engineering College in Gurugonda village under Atmakur mandal, on Monday morning attempted suicide by burning himself.
The student, K. Neeraj Bharadwaj, of Gopalapuram village under Hanamkonda mandal in the district arrived in the college at 8.30 am. The boy, who might have brought a kerosene bottle with him, doused himself and set him alight and screamed due to burns. The fellow students rushed to the spot and put out the flames. The Atmakur police, who rushed to the spot on being informed, rushed him to the MGM Hospital, Warangal, where the doctors said the boy’s condition was precarious.
Before resorting to the extreme action for separate Telangana, Neeraj reportedly scribbled his father’s name and his telephone number on a peace of paper and left at the place.
As the news spread like wild fire, the students of ABVP and TRSV organized a dharna before the hospital demanding that the ministers of the region resign immediately to mount pressure on the Union government to declare Telangana. Later, they went in a procession towards the residence of minister Basavaraju Saraiah. When the police obstructed them on the way, the irate students attacked the police vans. With this, the police took the students leaders into custody. (NSS)