Tension gripped the Osmania University campus, the nerve centre of the pro-Telangana student agitation, after a 20-year old youth, Sripuram Yadaiah, attempted suicide.
Sending the police and fellow agitators into a tizzy, Yadaiah set himself ablaze at a “Chalo Assembly” rally being taken out by the students.
The police acted swiftly and doused the flames, but by then the student had suffered extensive burns. He was shifted to Gandhi Hospital for treatment.
Following this, the students, who were peaceful till then despite the police stopping their rally, turned violent and pelted policemen with stones. In turn, police resorted to baton-charge and fired teargas shells to disperse the students. The enraged students torched three state road transport corporation buses.
Earlier, violating prohibitory orders, the students came in a rally from Arts College on the university campus, but were stopped by the police at Vidyanagar, just outside the campus.
Police had made elaborate security arrangements in the light of the rally. Over 20,000 police and paramilitary personnel were deployed across the city to prevent any untoward incident. All roads leading to the Assembly complex were sealed and traffic diverted at several places.