It was an emotional day for hundreds of Revenue Department employees from Telangana who poured into Hyderabad's Nagole area to witness the last rites of Vijaya Reddy, a Mandal Revenue Officer (MRO) who was set ablaze and killed in her office chambers on Monday.
Vijaya, the MRO of Abdullahpurmet was killed by a man called K Suresh, reportedly over a long-pending land dispute.
As hundreds blocked the Nagole main road in Hyderabad in a show of strength while accompanying the funeral procession, Vijaya's family and friends were shaken and in tears.
Harinivas, a relative, stood close to Subhash Reddy, her husband, who works as a Degree College lecturer in Hyderabad.
"She was very soft spoken and always minded her own business. She never got into any fights with anyone," he said.
Another relative, Vijaya's uncle, said that she had been staying at her home in Kothapet for close to six years now. Vijaya is survived by two children — a 10-year-old daughter and a 5-year-old son.
"She was dutiful and very kind hearted. Now what will happen to the children? What should they do?" he asks, pointing at the children before breaking down.
Vijaya's mother, who was also part of the procession, was inconsolable. "My child. How can you leave me like this? What do I do now?" she was seen repeatedly saying as she clung on to relatives to stop herself from falling down.
The family of Vijaya Reddy, a Mandal Revenue Officer from Telangana, who was killed yesterday, breaks down, as her final rites are performed in Hyderabad @thenewsminute pic.twitter.com/EeoiTF9hKR
— Nitin Bhaskaran (@NitinBGoode) November 5, 2019
It was not only family. Friends and colleagues of Vijaya were also in mourning.
During the procession, employees were on a warpath and their dissatisfaction at Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao was evident.
Slogans of 'We want justice' and 'CM down down' also rang in the air, as they alleged that KCR had 'villanised' them and projected the Revenue Department to be full of corrupt officials.
"I came all the way from Warangal when I heard that the last rites were taking place here. It is heart breaking to say the least. She had many years of service ahead of her. The person who did this is inhuman," says Raju, a Revenue Department employee
Other employees also pitched in with similar thoughts, all of them expressing grief that Vijaya was no more.
The employee unions have also planned to boycott work for 3 days, and called for protests across the state, to demand severe punishment for the guilty. They have also demanded better protection for officials who are discharging their duties.
Senior police officials including Rachakonda Commissioner Mahesh Bhagwat also attended the funeral procession..
Meanwhile, K Suresh, who poured petrol on the official and set her ablaze, also sustained over 60 percent burns and is undergoing treatment at the government-run Osmania Hospital in Hyderabad.
Police suspect that the blaze triggered a blast in the AC duct and the flames engulfed Suresh and Vijaya.
According to police, Suresh and his family had seven acres of land in Bacharam village, which was caught in a legal tangle.
Suresh's family members, however, had no clues as to why he went to the tehsildar's office and carried out the gruesome attack as he was not involved in mediating the land dispute.
A case of murder has been registered against the accused and the police said that they were investigating if anyone provoked Suresh to commit the crime.
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