VIJAYWADA: Manikumar Vemula, father of Rohith Vemula, a PhD scholar awho committed suicide at University of Hyderabad (UoH) campus recently, kicked off a fresh controversy over the victim's SC status and said his son might have been killed and made out as a suicide. Despite all the mainstream political parties, stream political parties, Dalit intellectuals and rights groups across the country rallying behind the victim's mother after the incident, Manikumar categorically stated at a press conference here on Tuesday that his son hailed from the backward Vaddera community. “My son was not a Scheduled Caste person. We hail from the Vaddera community of backward classes." He wondered as to how his estranged wife Radhika was claiming SC status.

Manikumar, who hails from Gurajala in Guntur district, gave another twist to his son's death, saying it was not a suicide but homicide. He urged the government to unravel the murder mystery by ordering a judicial inquiry with a sitting judge. Interestingly, he sought to implicate UoH's Ambedkar Students Association (ASA) in which Rohith served as a die-hard activist till he breathed his last.

He said that the suicide note was not written by Rohith. Manikumar expressed anguish over the politics revolving around Rohith's SC background. “Please, do not play politics on dead bodies," Manikumar appealed to the leaders agitating over Rohith's death with folded hands. Manikumar said that Rohith was not a coward to end his life.

Vemula Mallikarjuna Rao, paternal uncle of Rohith and a software employee in Hyderabad, told TOI that his brother and sisterin-law were married from within the Vaddera commu nity as arranged by elders.“So, there cannot be ground for anyone to weave stories over our caste background,“ he added.

It may be recalled that Rohith's paternal grandfather Srinivas alias Venkateswarlu and grandmother Sridevi during an inquiry conducted by Madhapur assistant commissioner of police Ramana in Gurajala a few days ago had strongly denied the claims of SC status for their grandson. Close on the heels of statements of Rohith's relatives from the paternal side, the Special Branch police of Guntur rural reportedly inquired into the issue in Prakash Nagar area where Radhika's father Banala Musalaiah, a retired PWD engineer, and mother Anjali alias Papayamma have been living and submitted a report to the government with focus on the victim's caste background.

Sources said the findings of the inquiry corroborated with the statements of Manikumar and his parents. It is learnt that the report sought action against then tehsildar for his role in issuing an SC certificate for Rohith when he was a high school student in Guntur.

Strikingly, Radhika too made a similar statement at her son's condolence meeting in Guntur a couple of days ago.