Differently abled Andhra man on protest found dead in Delhi

We recovered a twopage suicide note from the man in which he held his financial condition responsible for his death. The note is written in Telugu.

MADHUR VERMA, DCP

NEW DELHI/VIJAYWADA : A 39-yearold differently abled man from Srikakulam in Andhra Pradesh, who was in Delhi to support state chief minister Chandrababu Naidu in his day-long fast at Andhra Bhawan in Delhi, was on Monday found dead on his wheelchair outside the venue.

Police said they recovered a two-page note in which he said he was fed up of his financial condition and that he had been demanding special status for his state.

Naidu later announced Rs 20 lakh ex-gratia for the man’s family and a state funeral for him.

Police suspect the man consumed poison as there was froth in his mouth. The man was identified as Davala Arjun Rao, a resident of Kinthali village under Pondur mandal of Srikakulam district in Andhra Pradesh’s north coastal region.

According to the police, around 7 am, the police were informed that the body of an unidentified man was lying near a footpath on Jaswant Singh Road outside Andhra Bhawan.

“We recovered a two-page suicide note from the man in which he held his financial condition responsible for his death. The note is written in Telugu. We are trying to ascertain the content. Nothing else was recovered from him,” deputy commissioner of police (New Delhi) Madhur Verma said. The DCP said they had informed the man’s family. “We are yet to get details on his background. His family is yet to come to Delhi to receive the body,” the DCP said, adding the postmortem examination will ascertain the cause of death.

Rao’s family members told the Andhra Pradesh police that he used to work in the fields until 2006 when he was hit by a truck and was left disabled. He was unmarried and lived with his mother after two of his brothers migrated to other towns in search of work. His family told the police they do not have any agricultural land or any assured sources of income and he was in debt.

The AP police said he was in Delhi to attend Naidu’s Deeksha programme with others from his village. Naidu was on a day-long fast to demand special status for his state and fulfilment of commitments made by the Centre under the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014.