28, Jan 2016

Jan 28 2016 : The Times of India (Mumbai)
Bharti Jain
New Delhi:

A secret intelligence report has claimed that both the grandmother and mother of Rohith Vemula, a Hyderabad Central University research scholar who recently committed suicide, have declared the family’s caste as Vaddera, which is a backward caste and not part of the `Dalit’ fold.

In a report forwarded to national security adviser Ajit Doval, the agencies have cited the statement of Rohith’s grandmother Raghavamma claiming that both her son (Rohith’s father V Mani Kumar) and daughterin-law (Rohith’s mother V Radhika) belong to the Vaddera community . The video clipping of Raghavamma stating this in Telugu is attached with the report.

In yet another pointer to Rohith’s caste background, the report cites a request filed by his mother V Radhika on July 2, 2014, for registration of her younger son (Rohith’s younger brother) Raja Chaitanya Kumar’s birth. A self-declaration filed by her submits that she is a resident of Gurujala village and Mandal and belongs to cast Vaddera. She claims that her younger son, Raja Chaitanya Kumar was born on June 9, 1990, but she had failed to register the birth in the birth register.