HC lawyer couple stabbed to death in Telangana

A lawyer couple wasstabbed to death by unidentified assailants in broad daylightin Peddapalli district on Wednesday, Police said.

During his last moments, Gattu Vaman Rao reportedly nameda local TRS leader as being responsible for the attack.

Home Minister Mohd Mahmood Ali said the incident washighly condemnable.

''This is being viewed very seriously by the government.

The culprits will soon be brought to book and dealt with, asper the law,'' he said in a statement.

Rao and his wife, both practicing lawyers in theTelangana High Court, were travelling in a car when twoassailants intercepted and attacked them using knives andother sharp weapons near a village in Ramagiri Mandal, around2.30 pm, they said.

A police team which rushed to the spot on gettinginformation, took them to a hospital, but they succumbed toinjuries, Ramagundam Commissioner of Police V Satyanarayanatold PTI.

The Commissioner said preliminary investigation revealedthat the duo were professional killers.

He said six special teams have been formed to nab theassailants and that some people had been detained onsuspicion.

Rao's family members alleged that a local leader of rulingTelangana Rashtra Samithi was behind the attack.

The couple had also moved the High Court in September2020, complaining that police were harassing and threateningthem after they wrote a letter (which was taken up as PIL) toit over alleged custodial death of a man, they said.

They had also filed PILs on various public issues indifferent courts, including the High Court.

Asked about the family's charges, the Commissioner saidRao had not filed any complaint about a threat to his life.

Some passers-by filmed a video of Rao lying on theroad and reportedly naming the leader, which went viral.

The car driver, who was not the regular employee of thecouple and was left unharmed, also reportedly corroboratedwhat Rao had said.

Rao's father filed a complaint, based on which a murdercase has been registered, police said.

The lawyer was in his native place Manthani on Wednesdayto file a petition in a court in connection with a disputeover construction of a temple, his family members said.

Some TV channels showed visuals of Rao lying on the roadin a pool of blood and his wife in the car.

Another video doing the rounds on social media and alsobroadcast by some TV channels purportedly showed at least twoassailants attacking a person lying on the road with sharpweapons even as vehicles zoomed past.

The duo were then seen getting into another car andmoving away from the spot.

The Telangana Bar Council condemned the brutal murder ofthe advocate couple and demanded that the police arrest theculprits immediately.

It also demanded that government enact an AdvocatesProtection Act to safeguard the advocates community.

Condemning the murder, both BJP and Congress demanded ahigh level probe into it.

State BJP president and MP Bandi Sanjay Kumar demanded anenquiry by a sitting High Court Judge, while TelanganaCongress President and MP N Uttam Reddy sought a CBI probe.

Kumar said the lawyer couple had been fighting for thepoor.

The couple had filed PILs) against the TRS government, hesaid and blamed ''TRS goondas'' for the murder.

They were also arguing some ''sensational'' cases, the BJPleader claimed.

Reddy expressed concern over the murder of the lawyercouple in broad daylight.