Supreme Court transfers Telangana advocate murder case to CBI - key details

Hyderabad: The Supreme Court has directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to take over the investigation of the murder case of advocate Gattu Vamana Rao and his wife, who were brutally killed in Telangana in 2021. The court also ordered the state government to provide security to the petitioner, Gattu Kishan Rao, the father of the deceased lawyer.  

Gattu Vamana Rao and his wife were murdered on February 17, 2021, while they were travelling on a road in Manthani, Telangana. The couple was allegedly attacked by unidentified assailants, leading to widespread outrage and demands for a thorough investigation.  

Dissatisfied with the progress of the probe, Gattu Kishan Rao approached the Supreme Court, seeking the transfer of the case to the CBI. In his petition, Kishan Rao alleged that the state police investigation had failed to identify the real culprits and that an independent agency should handle the case.  

A bench comprising Justices MM Sundaresh and SK Singh heard the plea, where senior advocates Menaka Guruswamy and Chandrakanth represented Kishan Rao. The Telangana government informed the court that it had no objection to transferring the case to the CBI.  

Taking note of the submissions, the Supreme Court ordered the CBI to investigate the case and also directed the state to provide security to the petitioner, considering the sensitivity of the matter.  

Telangana Minister for IT and Industries, Duddilla Sridhar Babu, has welcomed the Supreme Court’s directive to hand over the investigation of the Gattu Vaman Rao couple’s murder case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). In a statement issued on Tuesday, he said the order had strengthened public faith in the judicial system.

IT Minister Sridhar Babu said, "Justice will be served only when the true perpetrators—and the senior leaders of the then government who abetted them—are duly punished". He criticised the previous BRS government for its complete indifference when advocate Vaman Rao and his wife were brutally murdered in broad daylight in Manthani. Instead of conducting an impartial inquiry, he alleged, they shielded the actual offenders.

Expressing anguish, Sridhar Babu said that the senior leaders of that government, who should have delivered justice to the grieving parents who lost their son and daughter-in-law, had instead derailed the investigation and protected the real killers.

He further remarked that despite repeated appeals from civil society organisations and the Congress party to transfer the case to the CBI, the then government had ignored these demands. Reiterating his unwavering confidence in the judiciary, he concluded, “In the end… justice will prevail.”