SC transfers Vaman Rao murder case to CBI: Lawyer couple had alleged threats over PILs on public issues

Hyderabad: The Supreme Court on Tuesday transferred the investigation into the murder case of the lawyer couple who were killed in Peddapalli district to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The top court was hearing a plea filed by Gattu Kishan Rao seeking a CBI inquiry into the murder of his son Gattu Vaman Rao and daughter-in-law PV Nagamani.

What is the Gattu Vaman Rao case?

Gattu Vaman Rao and his wife PV Nagamani were a lawyer couple practising at the Telangana High Court. They were brutally murdered in broad daylight on February 17, 2021, while they were travelling in their car near Kalvacherla village in Peddapalli district.

Details of the case

The crime: The couple was returning to Hyderabad after attending a court case in Manthani when their car was intercepted by two assailants.

- The attackers, armed with sickles and other sharp weapons, dragged the couple out of the car and hacked them to death in full public view.

- Videos of the gruesome attack were widely circulated on social media.

- In a purported dying declaration, Gattu Vaman Rao named a local leader of the then-ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) party (now Bharat Rashtra Samithi or BRS), Kunta Srinivas, as being responsible for the attack.

The investigation and motive: Following the murder, the police arrested several individuals, including Kunta Srinivas and his accomplices.

- Police claimed the motive was a personal dispute between Vaman Rao and Srinivas over a land issue and the construction of a temple in their native village.

- However, the couple’s family and many others alleged a political motive, stating that the murders were a result of the couple’s legal activism against influential political figures.

- Vaman Rao and Nagamani had filed several Public Interest Litigations (PILs) on various public issues, including a case regarding an alleged custodial death in a local police station. They had also expressed concerns about threats to their lives.

Political allegations and developments: The case took on a political dimension with the involvement of a close relative of a former TRS MLA and Peddapalli Zilla Parishad chairman. This individual was allegedly involved in providing the car and weapons used in the murder.

- Congress in the Opposition in Telangana during that time, accused the police and State government of attempting to protect the real culprits and demanded a thorough investigation by a central agency.

- The Telangana High Court took suo motu cognisance of the case, directing the government to conduct a proper and expeditious investigation.

- In August 2025, the Supreme Court of India transferred the probe into the murders to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), stating that the matter required further investigation. This decision came after a plea from Gattu Vaman Rao’s father, who had consistently sought a CBI inquiry.

Sridhar Babu alleges involvement of former govt officials

Telangana Minister for IT and Industries, Duddilla Sridhar Babu, welcomed the Supreme Court’s decision to transfer the investigation of the Gattu Vaman Rao couple’s murder case to the CBI.

Sridhar Babu asserted that justice would only be served when the perpetrators and the ‘senior leaders of the then government who abetted them’ are punished.

The minister alleged that instead of conducting an impartial inquiry, the previous administration had shielded the actual offenders. He also highlighted that the previous government had ignored repeated appeals from civil society organisations and the Congress party to transfer the case to the CBI.