The Telangana Police announced the closure of its inquiry into the tragic demise of University of Hyderabad (UoH) student Rohith Vemula, stating that he was not a Dalit and alluded that his death by suicide had been driven by apprehensions about his real identity being revealed.

Meanwhile, the state’s Director-General of Police (DGP) Ravi Gupta, ordered further investigation into the matter on Friday.

“As some doubts have been expressed by the mother and others of the deceased Rohit Vemula on the investigation conducted, it has been decided to conduct further investigation into the case. A petition will be filed in the Court concerned requesting the Hon’ble Magistrate to permit further investigation into the case,” the DGP said.

” The Investigation Officer in the case was Asst. Commissioner of Police, Madhapur and the final closure report in the case was prepared last year i.e. before November 2023 itself based on the investigation conducted. The final closure report was officially filed in the jurisdictional court on 21.03.2024 by the Investigation Officer,” the DGP further said.

This comes after the Cyberabad police concluded their investigation into his death and filed a closure report with a local court, saying that Rohith was not a member of the Scheduled Caste and that he was aware of it.

As per the police report, the deceased had multiple issues weighing on him, which might have played a role in his suicide. “In addition to this, the deceased himself was aware that he did not belong to Scheduled Caste and that his mother got him a SC certificate. This could be one of the constant fears, as the exposure of the same would result in a loss of his academic degrees that he earned over the years and be compelled to face prosecution,” the report said.

The police also cleared the then Secunderabad MP Bandaru Dattatreya, Member of Legislative Council N Ramachander Rao, UoH Vice Chancellor Appa Rao, ABVP leaders, and then Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani of any wrongdoing in the case.