TPCC head and MP N Uttam Kumar Reddy, along with other leaders including MLA D Sridhar Babu, DCC Presidents Komaraiah, Laxman and Prakash Reddy, and ex-MLA Vijaya Ramana Rao, today met the parents and family members of late Gattu Vaman Rao and P V Nagamani, the lawyers who were brutally
murdered in Peddapalli recently, at their residence in Manthani.
The leaders conveyed their condolences to the bereaved family, and assured them that the Congress would not rest until all the culprits involved in the murders of the advocates were punished.
During the meeting, Kishan Rao, Vaman Rao's father, reportedly said that he did not believe that the investigation being carried out by the local police would yield any results.
In response, Uttam Kumar Reddy informed him that a delegation of the Congress had already met Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan, and had urged her to
order a court-monitored CBI investigation into the attack. He assured the family that the party would support it in all possible ways, and would pressurise the concerned authorities to apprehend and punish those responsible for the murders.
Speaking to the media later, the TPCC head attacked Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao's silence on the matter once again, and said, "The CM did not issue a single statement condemning the attack, and with this omission, he has sent a dangerous message to the criminals and anti-social elements of the state - that they can carry on doing whatever and killing whoever. Why is KCR so reluctant to order a CBI probe into the killings? The least he can do is to assure the bereaved family that the state will ensure a speedy investigation and trial."
Describing the attack as one that was the result of a "high-level conspiracy hatched by the leaders of the TRS in connivance with the sand and property mafias", he said that the police was unlikely to carry out a fair and neutral trial as they would be pressurised by the ruling party to sweep the incident under the rug.
"Like the CM, the local police too is not bothered about uncovering the truth. They have not even gathered the call records of the accused and the victims yet. The Congress will not sit by and let such an injustice be done to the two lawyers. We will take up the matter with the Chief Justices of the Supreme Court and the Telangana High Court besides raising it in Parliament," Reddy added.
Earlier in the day, the Congress leader had even held a virtual meeting with the TPCC Legal Cell, and had advised the office bearers of the cell to extend their help to the family of the two slain lawyers.
"Since the TRS government is trying to shield the culprits as they are all members of the party, we must keep a close eye on the way in which the investigation proceeds to ensure that the truth comes out in the end," he said.
The Congress has been quite vocal about its belief that the TRS was heavily involved in the attack on the two lawyers, and has been demanding a CBI probe claiming that the law enforcement bodies in the state are being influenced by the party to hush up the matter.