Pro-Telangana youth dies after immolation bid

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 last evening.

He was rushed to the Apollo Hospital, where he succumbed to the burns last night, police said. Fearing a backlash from the student community, the Andhra Pradesh police got the body shifted to his native place early this 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 yesterday, was identified with 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 last 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 yesterday, police said.

Curfew-like situation had prevailed in most parts of the city yesterday 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.