Hyderabad, June 30: High drama unfolded on Monday, first at the BR Ambedkar statue near Tank Bund and later at the Gandhinagar police station, as Telugu Desam Party MLA from Kovvur TV Ramarao went on a hunger strike demanding withdrawal of ‘false’ cases against him.
Ramarao is facing charges of ‘rape and murder’ of a nursing student in his college. The case has been handed over to the CID for investigation.
What started as a protest took a serious turn with Ramarao suddenly announcing that he was going on an indefinite fast. Police foiled his move and took him to the Gandhinagar police station. However, as soon as he was released, Ramarao again sat on a fast at the Indira Park this evening.
In the morning, Ramarao along with some TDP MLAs reached the Ambedkar statue. After legislators N Janardhan Reddy and M Narasimhulu addressed the gathering, Ramarao announced that he was launching an indefinite fast. The police then intervened and shifted him to the Gandhinagar police station. They detained him for sometime and let him off. Ramarao, however, resumed his fast at the Indira Park later in the evening.
Earlier, announcing his hunger strike at the Ambedkar statue, Ramarao said the State government had implicated him in false cases. He said there was no justice for Dalits under the Congress dispensation.
MLAs Janardhan Reddy and Narasimhulu alleged that the government had registered cases based on a complaint lodged on flimsy grounds.
The complainant, David, a Congress activist, had stated that he had ‘heard’ from acquaintances that a nursing student was raped and murdered in the nursing college owned by Ramarao in Nidadavole, the TDP leaders pointed out and said that showed the hollowness of his charges.
Meanwhile, Ramarao’s wife and some students of the nursing college lent support to Ramarao at the Indira Park.
-Agencies—