Telangana: 70 Year Old Farmer Oustee Of Mallanna Sagar Project Commits Suicide By Jumping Into Burning Pyre

Thutukuri Malla Reddy, an oustee of the Mallanna Sagar project under construction by the Telangana government, committed suicide by jumping into a burning pyre in the Vemulaghat village, Siddipet district.

The 70-year-old farmer made a pyre from wooden scraps of his own demolished house and burnt himself to death by firing it.

The New Indian Express reports that he was forced to take this extreme step after being denied a 2BHK house in the Rehabilitation and Resettlement (R&R) colony of the Mallanna Sagar project.

A father to three daughters, Malla Reddy, lost his wife to cancer around nine months ago. While his eldest daughter and her husband died a couple of years ago, his second daughter and husband died recently due to Covid-19.

Malla Reddy wanted to give the new house that he would receive under rehabilitation package to the youngest of his three daughters and was reportedly upset after the Revenue Department officials told him he would not receive it.

The suicide incident has created a political storm in the state, with local BJP MLA M Raghunandan Rao alleged that the carelessness of the government in compensating the oustees is the cause for this suicide.

An alerted state government has deployed a heavy police force at Vemulaghat village after the suicide.

Local Congress leader Ch Srinivas Reddy was taken into preventive custody by the police. Local BJP MLA M Raghunandan Rao met Malla Reddy’s relatives at the government hospital, but he was not allowed to visit Vemulaghat village.