Shivaram Rathod was reportedly arrested from Thane in Maharashtra and later produced before a court at Nampally.
Published Oct 20, 2023 | 10:10 PM ⚊ Updated Oct 20, 2023 | 11:48 PM
The accused, Shivaram Rathod, with his mother and others at the court on Friday. (Supplied)
A week after a 23-year-old Telangana State Public Service Commission (TSPSC) aspirant apparently died by suicide in Hyderabad, the Chikkadpally police on Friday, 20 October, arrested her male friend for allegedly abetting her suicide.
Shivaram Rathod, 26, of Thanda in Kosigi of undivided Mahbubnagar, was arrested after he surrendered before the XI Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court at Nampally in the evening. The police picked him up after his surrender.
The 13 October death of Marri Pravalika had gained a political dimension in poll-bound Telangana with the Opposition parties blaming the delay in conducting the TSPSC exams had pushed her over the edge.
Scores of students staged a late-night protest on 13 October after the Warangal woman was found dead in her Ashok Nagar hostel. They, too, held the government responsible for her death and demanded justice for the deceased.
Assistant Commission of Police in Chikkadpally A Yadagiri told South First that the case could have been handled smoothly if everyone had cooperated. “The accused had been hiding all this while, which itself is a crime,” he said, adding all angles would be probed with the arrest of Shivaram Rathod.
The police had formed four teams to search for the accused and they were sent to different places, including Maharashtra.
After his arrest, Rathod pleaded innocence.
“My name is Shivaram Rathod. We had been close friends, but I had never harassed Pravalika. We met at the RC Reddy Coaching Centre in Ashok Nagar. I was preparing for Group 2 exams,” he told South First.
Speaking to the media, Rathod’s mother said he is innocent. (Supplied)
“We spoke to each other as friends. I did not surrender to the police because of the news blaming me for her death. I deny the allegation that I had texted and harassed her on WhatsApp,” the man added. He said they had known each other since July.
Rathod said that Pravalika was nervous about the exam.
“Like every aspirant, she, too, was tense. I am a graduate and hence have written the Assistant Civil Engineer exam. Then I wrote Group 1 twice. I have taken the Group 4 test also.
He accused Pravalika’s relatives of changing their statements. “Now, nobody will believe me,” he added.
Rathod said he had completed B.Tech from JB Institute of Engineering and Technology (JBIET) in Moinabad.
The court complex was crowded when the police produced Rathod before it. His mother was seen falling at officer Yadagiri’s feet, requesting him not to arrest her son.
“My son has not done anything to the girl. Both were preparing for the competitive examination. I cannot let him be punished for doing nothing,” she lamented while speaking to South First.
Advocate B Karthik Navayan, representing Rathod, said the magistrate court rejected the surrender petition in the Pravalika suicide case.
“We asked for protection as the police were waiting outside the court t arrest him. The magistrate ordered the police not to ill-treat the accused,” he told South First, adding that the defence would approach the sessions court.
Incidentally, the exact motive for Pravalika to take the extreme step has not been established.
Though it was initially alleged that the woman took the extreme step because she was disappointed with the delay in the conduct of the TSPSC exams. Her death took a political hue after Opposition parties accused the ruling BRS of shattering the dreams of job aspirants in Telangana.
However, after an initial investigation, the police contended it was a failed relationship with Rathod that resulted in the young woman taking the extreme step. With her family, too, blaming Rathod, a case of abetment to suicide was registered against him. It was alleged that Rathod had left Pravalika for another woman.
On 17 October, edited videos of Pravalika’s brother and mother were circulated. They blamed Rathod for her death.
However, they had earlier rejected the police version that an affair had led the young woman to die by suicide.
“Is it a crime for young people to aspire for a government job? The rumours and character assassination swirling around Pravalika won’t erase the fact that she was a determined and studious young woman,” her mother Marri Vijaya had told South First at Bikkajipally in the Warangal on 16 October.
It was also said that Pravalika was concerned over the financial burden — meeting her coaching expenses — she had been placing on her family.
Vijaya later demanded capital punishment for Rathod in a video statement. Even as the family repeated the police version, the Congress alleged that the video was scripted by the ruling BRS.
The family had been pinning their hopes on Pravalika since they did not want her to toil in the fields like them. The family was also taken to Hyderabad where they met BRS working president and IT Minister KT Rama Rao.
The minister reportedly promised a government job for Pranay, Pravalika’s brother, and financial assistance to the family. KTR also hit back at the Congress and BJP for politicising the death.
Meanwhile, Rathod’s father Nenavat Kishan Rathod wrote to the State Human Rights Commission on Thursday, 19 October, alleging harassment and threats by the police.
He alleged that the Chikkadpally Police had been trying to arrest his son because of political pressure.
“The information on the police hunt for my son is in the news every day and they have registered a case. But I would like to bring to your notice that nothing was written in the suicide letter on (the alleged) love affair,” he wrote.
He said that the police were “constantly harassing and putting pressure on our family members, our brothers and sisters’ children, saying ‘Will you bring Sivaram Rathod, otherwise we will encounter you’”.
“We are in a situation where all our family members do not know what to do. I would like to inform you that along with my son, all family members will attend the sessions court and the police should investigate the case without bending to the ruling party or Opposition political parties. My son should not be the target in this case,” the letter read.
Advocate V Karthik Navayan, representing the family, earlier told South First that he wants Shivaram Rathod to surrender in the court, and not to the police.
