Lawyer couple's murder:Telangana HC issues notices to state govt

Hyderabad, Feb 18 (PTI): The Telangana High Court onThursday on its own took cognisance of the killing of alawyer couple in Peddapalli district of the state and directedthe government to properly and expeditiously conductinvestigation into the matter.

Gattu Vaman Rao and his wife P V Nagamani, bothpracticing lawyers in the High Court, were killed when theywere travelling in a car on Wednesday. Two assailantsintercepted and attacked them using knives and other weaponsnear a village in Ramagiri Mandal.

The Court, while posting the matter to March 1, issuednotices to the state government asking it to file a statusreport on the investigation.

Condemning the killing of the advocate couple, lawyersacross the state held protests on Thrusday and demanded thatthe police arrest the culprits immediately.

Describing the killings as ''unfortunate'', ChiefJustice Hima Kohli called for a report and directed that theinvestigation be done properly by collecting the evidence.

Police shall investigate the killings without anydelay, the court said.

The court told the Telangana Advocate General (AG)to inform the government to collect evidence such as videos(that were circulated on social media) which were recorded bypassers-by, and statements of those people who may havewitnessed the incident while travelling in vehicles.

These evidences are to be gathered and sent toexperts to check the authenticity of the recordings.Thereshould not be any lacuna in the investigation and it should beproperly handled, the court said.

During his last moments, Vaman Rao reportedly nameda local leader of ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) asbeing responsible for the attack.

Vaman Rao's family members had also alleged that alocal TRS leader was behind the attack.

The couple had moved the High Court in September lastyear complaining that police were harassing and threateningthem after they wrote a letter (which was taken up as PIL) tothe court over alleged custodial death of a man under Manthanipolice station, they had said.

The couple had also filed PILs on various publicissues in different courts including the High Court.

Police earlier saidtwo persons in another carwaylaid the lawyer couple's vehicle and brutally attacked thembefore fleeing.

Police also said six special teams were formed tonab those involved in the crime and they also detained somepeople based on suspicion.

Meanwhile, as part of their protests, scores ofadvocates raised slogans and took out rallies and stageddemonstrations near the High court here and other courtscondemningthe killing.

Police took some protesting advocatesintopreventive custody while they tried to march towards theRajBhavan.PTI GDK/VVK BNBN BN

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