Supreme Court Orders CBI Investigation Into Telangana Lawyer Couple's Murder

The Supreme Court has ordered the Central Bureau of Investigation to take over the probe into the 2021 murder of a lawyer couple, Gattu Vaman Rao and PV Nagamani, in the Peddapalli district of Telangana.

The decision, delivered by a bench of Justices MM Sundresh and N Kotiswar Singh, comes after a prolonged legal battle and widespread demands for a fair and impartial investigation.

Gattu Vaman Rao and PV Nagamani, both practicing lawyers, were brutally attacked and killed in broad daylight on February 17, 2021, on the Manthani-Peddapalli highway. The couple was returning from a court case in Manthani when their car was intercepted by assailants who hacked them to death with knives.

The case garnered significant attention due to the couple's history of filing Public Interest Litigations (PILs) against powerful individuals, including on matters related to the sand mafia and an alleged custodial death.

Vaman Rao's father, Gattu Kishan Rao, had filed a plea with the Supreme Court seeking a CBI inquiry, alleging that the state police investigation was not conducted properly and that the real masterminds behind the crime had been shielded. He also pointed to a dying declaration video by his son that allegedly implicated a person who was not made an accused in the case.

The Supreme Court's decision was based on its observation that the matter required "further investigation" and that a deeper probe was necessary to unearth the facts.

The state government, in its affidavit, confirmed that the forensic analysis of the video was genuine and stated it had no objection to a CBI probe.

Telangana's Information Technology and Industries Minister, D Sridhar Babu, who represents Manthani, has welcomed the Supreme Court's order, stating that it "reinforced people's trust in the judicial system".

He alleged that during the previous Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) government, the twin murders were met with indifference and that the then administration had shielded the real culprits. Sridhar Babu has been seeking a CBI probe for a long while now and expressed confidence that the lawyers' family would finally get justice.