Telangana stir: Student immolates self, 300 detained

Police said Yadaia, a student of Noble College, doused kerosene and set himself ablaze at the main entrance of the Osmania University, which had become the focal point of tussle between the students and the security forces right from early morning.

Policemen and other students tried to put out the fire and save the student, but by that time Yadaiah had suffered 60 per cent burns. He was rushed to the Gandhi Hospital where doctors described his condition as serious.

Yadaiah was identified as a resident of Nagaram village of Maheshwaram in Ranga Reddy district. The constituency is represented by the state Home Minister Sabita Indra Reddy.

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Additional Inputs: PTI

Meanwhile, over 300 students, who violated prohibitory orders and tried to march towards the state assembly to disrupt the ongoing budget session in support of separate Telangana, were taken into preventive custody.

As part of the call given by the Telangana Students Joint Action Committee and Osmania University Students Joint Action Committee to lay siege to the assembly demanding resignation of elected representatives of the region, hundreds of students began a rally from Osmania University campus, but were stopped by police on Shivam Road near Vidyanagar.

Tension prevailed in the area when the processionists sat on the road raising slogans against the police and indulged in heated arguments with the cops.

The agitating students have returned to the Osmania University, East Zone DCP M C Laddha told PTI.

Some pro-Telangana activists threw stones on the car of Osmania University (OU) Vice-Chancellor T Tirupati Rao.

However, he was not in the vehicle, the senior police official said, adding window panes of the car were damaged.

The OU campus has been the nerve centre of the agitation for a separate Telangana state and has witnessed a series of violent incidents with students and police clashing against each other.

In another incident, 150 students were taken into custody after they forced their way by breaking the barricades at the Nizam College hostel near the assembly.

A group of students were taken into custody when they tried to barge into the Ranga Reddy District Collectorate's office at Lakadi-ka-Pul area, Saifabad Police said.

Similarly, over 100 students were prevented and taken into custody after they tried to march towards the state capital from Ramanthapur on the outskirts of the city.

Over 15000 policemen and paramilitary personnel are on duty in Hyderabad alone as in a pre-cautionary measure to hold up protests.