Tension prevailed in Khammam town and Ramayampet in Medak district of Telangana after a unionist and a mother-son duo allegedly died by suicide after accusing local leaders of the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi of corruption.
B Sai Ganesh, a member of the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), the labour wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, allegedly killed himself by consuming pesticide at a police station on Friday. He had allegedly posted videos on social media accusing Transport Minister Ajay Kumar Puvvada and local TRS leaders of corruption. Police lodged at least 15 cases against him over the social media posts. In one of the videos, Ganesh accused Puvvada and other TRS leaders of foisting false cases on him, and said he was taking the extreme step after being tired of harassment. He allegedly consumed pesticide after being summoned to the police station on Thursday.
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Angry BJP activists ransacked the government hospital where he succumbed, set fire to hoardings of TRS leaders in Khammam and clashed with police and TRS supporters.
On Saturday, a real estate developer and his ailing mother allegedly died by suicide in a hotel room in Kamareddy district. Thirty-year-old G Santosh had taken his mother Padma, 58, who hailed from Ramayampet, on Friday for treatment and they were staying at the hotel. Hotel employees noticed smoke coming out of the room and called police and fire department officials, who found their charred bodies. A suicide note and a mobile phone video were found in the room in which Santosh accused a former police inspector, a municipal chairman and local TRS leaders of trying to extort money from him over a social media post accusing them of corruption.
He said that he had no money for his mother’s treatment and could not pay the “extortionists”. Tension prevailed in Ramayampet as family members and a large crowd demanded justice for the mother-son duo. As a funeral procession was taken out, the crowd broke into the house of the municipal chairman and took the bodies inside. The municipal chairman had already left the place.
They said they would not move the bodies until police started an inquiry into the allegations.
