Fifth-time punishment claimed schoolboy’s life

Mohammed Ismail, the Class X student who died after he was made to do 600 sit-ups by his class teacher, had been subjected to a similar punishment four times earlier, his family members have alleged. The family has now demanded closure of the school even as they are yet to come to terms with the loss. "It was the fifth time that this kind of corporal punishment was given to Ismail by the class teacher. Initially, Ismail never reported the incidents to his parents due to fear. It was only while undergoing treatment at the hospital that he told his parents about the cruel punishment,'' his uncle, Mohammed Abdul Hussain, told Express. Siddique Hussain, Ismail's father, had brought his son to Hyderabad from Dubai a few years ago. "Hussain wanted to provide quality education to his son and wanted him to learn the family culture and customs," said the relative. "As fate had it, days after he reached Hyderabad, Ismail met with an accident in which his legs were damaged. During the course of surgery, doctors put a rod in one of the legs which enabled him to walk. With the class teacher making him do more than 600 sit-ups, his leg could not take the strain and he fell ill and could not walk. Initially, we did not know that Ismail had been punished in this manner and we thought it was only fever," Hussain said.  He alleged that Royal Embassy High School chairman Adil was bringing pressure on police officers and trying to save the teacher, Mubin, who imposed the corporal punishment on the student. "When kids make mistakes in classrooms, the teacher should inform their parents. Why should teachers take the harsh decision to award corporal punishment? Who is responsible for the death of Ismail?'' he asked. Ismail's cousin Md Mukkaram said, "By the time we reached the school, police forces had already been deployed there. We suspect the school chairman is trying to hide the teacher," he added.

By Mouli Mareedu

moulimareedu@gmail.com

‘Astrologer’s prediction disturbed principal’

Aurora PG and Degree College principal Ravi Paturi, who committed suicide on Friday by jumping into Hussain Sagar lake, had recently approached an astrologer seeking advice for his problems. The sooth-sayer predicted that Ravi would meet a hazardous road accident shortly.  That got Ravi worried and he started following all advices given to him to ‘avoid’ the accident.  It disturbed him so much, that the man who had motivated and counselled thousands of young minds against committing suicide, had jumped to his own death.  “Since college, Ravi had a strong personality and was very intelligent.  Those factors attracted me towards him. We had a love-cumarranged marriage and have three daughters,” an inconsolable Megha Malini, Ravi’s wife, said.  Megha tried her best to divert him from superstitions, but Ravi followed all principles of astrology and even read related books.  As Express reached his flat located at Vijaypuri Colony in Tarnaka, Ravi’s youngest daughter, 5-year-old Vidusha, was playing with her elder sister Sukrithi. Her uncle had told her that her “papa would come home shortly to play with them. ” Ravi’s eldest daughter Varthiya, an intermediate first year student, was consoling her mother who was weeping in front of Ravi’s photo.  He was supposed to leave for Kolkata and Singapore to attend a conference. Tearfully, Megha recalled the recent past when the couple had discussed Vidusha’s birthday celebrations that would be held next Monday. He even promised to come home on Sunday from Kolkata to celebrate his daughter’s birthday.  The incident took place on Friday, when Ravi had handed over his car keys to the apartment watchman and gone out.  He took the auto-rickshaw of Chandra Reddy, a driver known to the family and resides in the same Vijaypuri Colony, and rushed to Necklace Road.  After reaching the place, Ravi gave his gold ring, chain and debit cards to Reddy and asked him to hand them over to his wife. When he handed over Ravi’s belongings to Megha, she suspected something wrong and rushed to the spot.  She searched for him all over at the necklace road but in vain.  A day later, Megha received a call from police stating that a body was retrieved from the lake. When they went to the place for indentification, their worst fears came true.  “The suicide has shattered our lives.  We achieve nothing with suicides.  Even though Ravi was a great motivator to many young minds, he left my life dark by leaving me alone,” Megha lamented. Ravi, a native of Adoni in Kurnool district, pursued higher education in Osmania University till 1988 and received three gold medals.

By Mouli Mareedu

moulimareedu@gmail.com

Love Drove Mumbai Gangster to Kidnap Girls

One Antony, who is leading a gang in Mumbai, is believed to be the mastermind behind the abduction of the four girls from a rehabilitation home here where they were lodged after their rescue from flesh trade. Antony, who happens to be the boyfriend of one of the four girls, led the operation and took them to Mumbai by air. A day after the daring kidnap at the rehab centre, being run by Ujjwala, an NGO, at Ramanthapur in Cyberabad police commissionerate limits, four police teams comprising senior police officials left for Mumbai and Kolkata in search of the kidnappers. A brothel organiser Sai, whom the police took into custody in connection with the kidnap, revealed that the Mumbai gangster was involved in the kidnapping. Sai, a resident of Krishnanagar in Yousufguda, had earlier been arrested by the Kukatpally police in a flesh racket case. Police raided his house and rescued the four girls who were kidnapped on Saturday. Uppal inspector Lakshmikanth Reddy told Express that Antony is a friend of Seema, one of the four girls. ``Antony used to visit the centre to meet Seema. The rehab centre officials confirmed that Antony had met Seema several times. He used to tell them that he is her brother-in-law,'' the inspector added. Meanwhile, police visited airline agents' offices in the city and spoke to passengers who flew to Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai  friom Hyderabad. ``Soon on receiving information about the kidnap,  we alerted our men on the  Maharashtra border but did not get any lead. We suspect that the kidnappers took the girls to Mumbai by flight,''  police said. It is also learnt that Antony requested the rehab centre to send his girl friend away with him and that he would submit papers and undertaking that he would take care of her. But, the staff asked him to take court permission by submitting documents establishing his relationship with Seema. A few days ago, Seema had made calls to Antony and requested him to take her away from the rehab centre. ``We have collected call data of Seema's mobile. We are sure of arresting the guilty," Lakshmikanth Reddy said. Of the four, Seema belongs to Hyderabad,  Salima to Mumbai and Zareena and Latha to Kolkata. Interestingly, the family of Seema was not interested to take her back home from the centre. With the girls having stayed at the centre for six months, police approached Seema's family members and requested them to take her back into their fold but the family turned down the request of the police. The girls, who are aged between 16 and 20, had been rescued from flesh trade by the Kukatpally and Miyapur police and were accommodated at the rehabilitation centre at Ramanthapur after producing them in a court six months ago.

By Mouli Mareedu

moulimareedu@gmail.com

IIT student: Nehru Would have been Readmitted

Fate being a cruel tease, it came to light Saturday that Vadithya Nehru, the IIT-Kanpur student who took his own life Thursday upon being rusticated by his institute, would have been reinstated if only he had asked to be. The dean of student affairs at IIT-Kanpur, A K Ghose, told Express on the telephone that Nehru had been one of 24 students who were struck from the rolls for failing to show a satisfactory performance in their first year.  All of them volunteered for counselling and sought readmission.  And they were readmitted with corrective recommendations.  All except Nehru. Ghose said, “We give a chance to terminated students to apply again to resume their courses.  All the terminated students came back with their parents and applied for readmission.  We gave them counselling and recommended yoga classes to them.  They are all back in class, except Nehru.  I don’t know what happened to him. His brother came to campus and took him away.” The shocking suicide of the 20-year-old student moved the people of his tanda in Nalgonda district to take a pledge never to take their own lives.  In death if not in life, the boy did finally fulfill his father’s wish that he be of service to Narlaga tanda. Hundreds of villagers, many from Nehru’s tanda and many dozens from hamlets all around, gathered in Narlaga for the funeral of the 20-year-old boy who so tragically carried the burden of their aspirations. They vowed to provide assistance to Nehru’s parents, Ramana and Panni.  “We thought we must take this pledge to send a message to youngsters in our tanda.  Several of them dream of pursuing higher education. We want them to know that it’s not alright to take one’s own life,’’ said V Venkat Ram, a tanda resident and headmaster of the local school. Numb with grief, the boy’s father Vadithya Ramana and Panni watched impassively as their neighbours took the pledge. Still only on the edge of coherence, Ramana -- fan of Jawaharlal Nehru, and dreamer of his son’s dreams - said he is determined to go to the IIT-Kanpur campus to know what that led his boy to think there was no hope.  Venkat Ram said they would like to know what kind of counseling IIT-Kanpur had for bright students who fell behind, such as Nehru.  “We want to know if he could have been saved,” he said.

By Mouli Mareedu

moulimareedu@gmail.com

Tanda to IIT: Nehru’s tragic burden

Like every father, Vadithya Ramana too had pinned high hopes on his son Vadithya Nehru. In fact, he named his son after the first Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and hoped to see his son doing good academically and reach great heights professionally -- something Ramana says he drew inspiration from the persona of Jawaharlal Nehru, whom he saw in his young days when the Country's first prime minister had visited their native district of Nalgonda to inaugurate one of the largest masonry dam -- Nagarjuna Sagar -- several decades ago. Despite the fact that Ramana kept struggling all through to make both ends meet, he somehow managed to save money for his son Nehru's education as he hoped to see him become a highly qualified engineer. ''I saved money for his studies and whenever he asked for more, I arranged it though Iam a agricultural labourer,'' recalls Ramana, sitting under the shade of at tree outside the Osmania General Hospital's mortuary. His son and his only hope, 20-year-old Vadhithya Nehru, a student of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur, committed suicide by consuming poison yesterday, which has completely shattered the family, particularly Ramana. ''As part of our tanda culture, we wanted to welcome him to drum beats and take a procession whenever he secured the best job for himself. All of us were looking forward to the day when he would become a highly qualified engineer,'' said Ramana, holding back tears as he awaited the body of his son at the hospital. The body was handed over to the family after a post-moterm after which it was taken to their native, Narlaga tanda, Vaddipatla village in peddadicharlapally mandal in Nalgonda district. Clad in disheveled white dhothi and shirt, Ramana, who was in a pensive mood wondered if the extreme step taken by his son was a right decision. ''Is this timid act of committing suicide the right decision to solve his problems? Before resorting to the extreme step, he even spoke to Panni (Nehru's mother) and told her that he would visit home and explain issues regarding his studies. Travelling with Nehru's body to my native is going to be tough for me,'' said Ramana. A number of villagers, friends and relatives also reached the mortuary to receive Nehru's body. Nehru secured all India 17 rank in IIT- Joint Entrance Examinations under ST category and he had B.Tech admission at Electronic Engineering (EE) stream in IIT Kanpur campus. It is learnt that Nehru secured below 4.5 grade out of 10 in the first year examinations and he was terminated from the college as detention system is implementing in the campus. ``Nehru came to the city in a depressed condition and was staying at his friends room in Kukatpally. He took Rs 100 from his friend and purchased a pesticide and went to Abdulpurmet. He informed his parents and friends over mobile phone stating that he will commit suicide. Some of his friends and me sent a SMS to his mobile but it was switched off. My SMS was delivered around 5.41 pm yesterday and I thought he was alive. Then, I made a call to his number that was answered by the Hayatnagar police who stated that Nehru committed suicide,'' said V Venkatram, head master at government school in Miryalaguda and close relative of Nehru. He said that Nehru was fifth person from their village in pursuing higher education in a reputed educational institution like IIT Kanpur.  Since childhood, Nehru was an active person and participated in various social events that took place in his village. Nehru used to discuss with us to do some service to the village after securing a good job. Whenever we had holidays, we spent at the native place. Soon after reached the city from Kanpur, he met me and told he would go  home. I heard the bad news that he committed suicide,'' recalled a 20-year-old B.Tech student Muni, childhood friend of Nehru.

By Mouli Mareedu

moulimareedu@gmail.com

Is ‘mamool’ the reason behind raids on pubs?

Did the ‘Tonic n Club’ management fail to pay ‘mamool’ to the local police? Even as the police raided the pub and took at least 78 participants of a birthday bash into custody and arrested six others belonging to the management on Sunday, a few pub and lounge owners openly admitted to running their trade right under the nose of the police. It is also reported that the police raided the Tonic n Club after the management refused to pay them the ‘mamool’. The manager of a posh pub in the city told Express that cops get their mamool to allow the pubs to run their activities beyond the stipulated time. “Only after offering mamool to the local police, we allow participants to go ahead with special parties. Otherwise, we will incur losses,’’ he said. According to sources, pub managements offer around Rs 20,000 to the local police station every week. What’s more, they also pay at least Rs 10,000 per day as mamool to the police when pubs allow customers for special parties. A sub-inspector of a city police station disclosed on condition of anonymity that managements of various pubs and lounges offer attractive sums to the entire staff on a weekly basis. “The quantum of payment depends on the occasion,’’ he added. When the issue was raised before DCP Stephen Ravindra, he expressed anger pub managements for claiming that they were offering mamools to the police. The DCP said that the police were trying to ascertain whether the participants had liquor or not. Ayesha Khan, who flew in to the city from Dubai to attend the party, alleged that the police took the participants into custody only for the sake of mamools. “Are city pubs prohibited zones?’’ she asked. She also alleged that the police manhandled women to force them into confessing the offence. She said more than 50 participants did not consume liquor. Meanwhile, parents of the participants in the bash, requested the police over the phone to let off their children.

By Mouli Mareedu
moulimareedu@gmail.com

Ministers lobby for Inspector postings

Two ministers, who have locked horns with top brass of state police over transfer and posting of inspectors in the state capital, are learnt to have finally had their way in having men of their choice posted at places of their choice. Hyderabad police commissioner Anurag Sharma is understood to have short-listed a few names of inspectors and is likely to issue posting orders shortly. According to sources, Sharma held a meeting with his subordinates after which the names of at least 10 inspectors have been finalised. The bone of contention between the ministers and the police officials were the Jubilee Hills, Banjara Hills, Afzalgunj and Sanjeeva Reddy Nagar police stations. While the ministers accuse police officials of not keeping them informed of postings, police officials maintain that posting of mere inspectors should not be bothering ministers. While some inspectors are moving heaven and earth to get themselves posted at the Banjara Hills police station and the two ministers are backing their favourites. Though senior officers had finalised the postings for the Banjara Hills and Afzalgunj police stations, the same were stalled by a minister who even shot off a letter to the DGP and even met the chief minister with his complaint. The minister in question, who left for London on a one-month private tour, has sent a list of names of the men of his choice for posting at Banjara Hills, Jubilee Hills, SR Nagar and Afzalgunj police stations . When Sharma was in-charge police commissioner, he issued orders on May 3 transferring 14 inspectors. Among them, 12 have taken charge of their respective stations while those posted  at Banjara Hills and Afzalgunj could not due to intervention of ministers. ‘’Some inspectors are calling up ministers and requesting them to propose their names for a particular police station. Once the orders are issued, we will know whether the word of the minister has prevailed or not,’’ said an inspector.

By Mouli Mareedu
moulimareedu@gmail.com