Hyderabad, February 04: The death of G Varalakshmi, a B.Tech first-year student of Vignan Engineering College, sparked protests by the college students who damaged the windowpanes and furniture of the college.
Last night the police had altered the case to Section 174 (suspicious death) following reports that the girl had ended her life unable to bear the harassment by the college management to pay college fee as there was delay in fee reimbursement from the government.
BC and SC student organisations gave a call to boycott classes across the state tomorrow and stage dharna in front of the collectorates protesting against the delay in fee reimbursement.
Transport minister Botsa Satyanarayana, who is also a member of a cabinet subcommittee on fee reimbursement and scholarships, claimed that Varalakshmi’s name was not included in the list of applications sent by the college management.
Varalakshmi ( 17 ) of Laskharguda in the Hayatnagar police limits suffered burns a couple of days back and was shifted to a hospital.
She died last night. Student unions alleged that she committed suicide fearing that her studies might get affected due to the delay in fee reimbursement.
This morning, hundreds of students gathered in front of the college and staged a demonstration.
They hurled stones damaging the windowpanes and the furniture. Choutuppal police rushed to the college and took 22 students into preventive custody. Protesting against the arrests, students staged a rasta roko at Bhongir resulting in a severe traffic jam.
The Hayatnagar police said they had altered the case to Section 174 (suspicious death) after allegations that the girl had committed suicide. “Varalakshmi, in her statement, told us that she suffered burns accidentally. She even told the same to a magistrate who recorded her Dying Declaration (DD). As there were fresh allegations, we altered the section and are investigating,’’ Hayatnagar police inspector B Bhaskar said.
Meanwhile, the state SC, ST, BS Student Union gave a call to boycott classes tomorrow and demanded action against the college management, holding it responsible for the death of the girl.
TDP’s Telugu Yuvata and Telugu Nadu Students Federation held the Congress government responsible and accused them of taking the lives of students by delaying fee reimbursement. They threatened to storm the Samkshema Bhavan if the government did not reimburse the tuition fees of students before February
–Agencies