Telangana Amara Veerulaku …

HYDERABAD: As his hands were completely burnt, Anelli Shekar Reddy had to use his toe to put the impression on his dying declaration that said he had taken the drastic step in support of a separate Telangana.

Shekar Reddy succumbed to the burns on Tuesday night at the Osmania General Hospital.

A resident of LB Nagar, Reddy participated in the relay hunger strike organised by locals on Sunday. “He was there till 5 p.m at the hunger strike camp but vanished later.

He returned home late when we were all asleep. We were jolted out of sleep by the screams of Shekar and were flabbergasted to see him in flames,” a visibly shattered cousin of Shekar, V Mayuri told Expresso.

According to her, Shekar Reddy doused himself with kerosene around 2.30 a.m and set self ablaze. “Even then, he kept shouting Jai Telangana,” she said.

The family members shifted him to OGH in a 108 ambulance.

“Even in the hospital, he continued to say Jai Telangana. We were shocked by his decision to commit suicide for the cause of statehood,” Mayuri said.

Linga Reddy and Prasanna, parents of Shekar Reddy, were inconsolable.

When a magistrate met Shekar Reddy at the OGH, he reportedly raised slogans in support of Telangana.

At 11.30 p.m on Tuesday, Shekar breathed his last. Doctors said he suffered 83 percent burns.

Shekar had been working as a car driver from some years. His father Linga Reddy is also a driver.

Locals said ever since the Telangana movement began, Shekar Reddy had been actively participating in all programmes and even encouraging others to join the agitation.

“Since childhood, he had been a sensitive person. We do not know what forced him to commit suicide but it looks like he got a feeling that Telangana might not come,’’ a relative of Shekar Reddy said.

As the news of Shekar’s death spread, local Telangana activists declared “LB Nagar bandh.’’ Many shops and other establishments downed shutters. Policemen, including CRPF, were deployed in and around LB Nagar to prevent any untoward incident.

(Courtesy: ExpressBuzz.com)