Hyderabad: Shivaram Rathod, who was arrested by the Chikkadpally police for allegedly cheating a girl student, Marri Pravallika, of Warangal who hanged herself at a hostel in Chikkadpally on October 13, was produced before the court on Saturday.
The court later released him on bail after he furnished sureties. The girl and Rathod were in a relationship and allegedly planned to marry.
According to the police, on the information that Rathod got engaged to another woman, Pravallika got depressed and hanged herself in her hostel room in Ashoknagar.
The police collected the call details records and Whatsapp conversations and after investigation, attributed the suicide to personal issues between Pravallika and Rathod.
Student unions and opposition parties alleged that Pravallika died after slipping into depression over repeated cancellation of the TSPSC Group 2 examination.
A protest demonstration was held near the hostel on October 13 and it led to the mob pelting stones at the police and the latter resorting to a lathi charge.
The police booked a case under Section 174 CrPC initially and afterward based on the statements of Marri Vijay, mother of Pravallika and Pranay, brother of Pravallika and two other girls who stayed at the hostel altered the Sections to 306, 417, and 420 of IPC.
Rathod was on the run since the case was booked against him. On Friday, he appeared before the Nampally court and filed a petition intending to surrender. The court, however, rejected his request stating that an investigation was going on.
Rathod was arrested as soon as he stepped out of the court and taken to Chikkadpally police station. On Saturday, he was presented before the court with a request to send on judicial remand. The court however granted him bail.
Meanwhile, BJP leader Ravindra Naik said the police had made Rathod a ‘scapegoat’ in the case while the fact is Pravallika slipped into depression and died by suicide due to repeated cancellation of the Group 2 exams.
“The government called the family of Pravallika to Pragathi Bhavan and pressured them to blame Rathod. The DCP framed Rathod in the case to save his job,” he alleged.
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