A man and his mother immolated themselves allegedly due to harassment by a public representative, his followers and a police officer in Telangana's Medak district.
The shocking incident occurred on Saturday at a lodge in Kamareddy town. The lodge staff alerted the police after they found smoke emanating from the room in which they were staying.
The police found both the persons charred to death. They were identified as Gangam Santosh (40) and his mother Padma (65), residents of Ramayampet in Medak district.
Santosh, who was into real estate business, and his mother recorded a selfie-video and wrote a suicide note before self-immolation. In the six-page suicide note and selfie-video posted by him on Facebook before setting themselves ablaze, they said the harassment by Ramayampet municipal chairman Jithendar Goud, his followers and police forcing them to take the extreme step.
In the selfie-video, Santosh showed pictures of seven persons, saying they were responsible for their death. He said though he complained to the police against these persons, no action was taken as they belonged to the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS). He hoped that justice would be done at least after they were dead.
Santosh said he started business with a person named Basam Srinu and since the latter did not have money, Jithendar Goud gave him the money. He said Jithendar Goud wanted 50 per cent share in the business and when he refused, the municipal chairman started harassing him.
Santosh said he was called to the police station for a Facebook post of someone else and then Circle Inspector Nagarjuna Goud took away his phone and tried to implicate him in the case.
"The CI handed over my phone data to Jithendar Goud and his men started creating problems for me using the data. They have been harassing me for one year. They did not allow my business to run. I had to take loans. They harassed my family members. Unable to bear this harassment and betrayal by those we trusted, we are killing ourselves," he said.
Meanwhile, tension prevailed in Ramayampet town as a large number of people gathered in front of the municipal chairman's house with the bodies of Santosh and Padma. Raising slogans 'we want justice', they demanded action against Jithendar Goud.
The municipal chairman had already locked his house and left for an undisclosed location. The police were trying to pacify the protesters.
