A 19-year-old youth, who attempted self-immolation in the Osmania University campus in Hyderabad in support of a separate Telangana state, has died, police said on Sunday .
S Yadaiah from Nagaram village in adjacent Ranga Reddy district, who had come to the university to take part in the students' agitation for Telangana, had poured petrol over his body and set himself on fire on Saturday evening.
He was rushed to the Apollo Hospital, where he succumbed to the burns on Saturday night, police said. Fearing a backlash from the student community, the Andhra Pradesh police got the body shifted to his native place early Sunday morning. City police commissioner A K Khan said Yadaiah's post-mortem was conducted and the body taken to his village.
Yadaiah, who set himself ablaze shouting pro-Telangana slogans in the campus on Saturday , was identified with the help of some certificates found in his bag along with a suicide note. The note, purportedly written by him in Telugu, said the government is not responding to the agitation for a separate Telangana.
"People like me will get jobs if Telangana state is formed. I am giving life for Telangana and please don't stop this movement till Telangana is achieved," the note said.
The incident on Saturday night sparked off tension in the university area, where police sealed off the campus to prevent students from participating in the 'assembly muttadi' (siege) announced by the Osmania University Students Joint Action Committee.
Irate students broke some barricades in their attempt to move out of the campus. Two state roadways buses were damaged and a private bus was burnt by some unidentified persons near Jamai Osmania railway station, police said.
Curfew-like situation had prevailed in most parts of the city as police had put up barricades and restricted vehicular movements on roads leading to the state assembly in view of the siege call.
The restrictions were lifted after the assembly, which was adjourned till Tuesday, finished its business in the afternoon. Students who raised pro-Telangana slogans near the assembly were detained by police.
With violence continuing unbated at the Osmania University (OU) campus, the varsity authorities announced postponement of post-graduate exams which were scheduled on February 22 and 23, though the engineering exams would be conducted as per schedule.
Examinations for MBA, MCA, LLB, MEd, PG Diploma courses, MA, MSc, MCom, BCJ, MCJ, Master and Bachelor of Library Sciences examinations have been postponed, OU officials said.
However, the semester exams of various branches of Engineering courses would be held as per schedule on February 22 and 23 at five affiliated colleges of Osmania University in the city, an Osmania University official told PTI. The revised date for the postponed exams will be announced shortly.
Meanwhile, the weekend contact classes of Prof G Ram Reddy Centre for Distance Education scheduled for Sunday were also cancelled in view of the volatile situation on the campus. PTI
