Anger, grief unite people of Hyderabad
Thirty-year-old Swapna Reddy, who died in the Disukhnagar bomb blast, was cremated on Friday afternoon amid a large number of people, including strangers from the neighbourhood, joining in the procession while venting their anger against the dastardly act.
However, her inconsolable mother and shell-shocked relatives followed the procession in silence. Public anger was such that the police had to make elaborate arrangements to ensure a incident free cremation. Two police patrol jeeps escorted the procession while a posse of cops guarded the gates of the crematorium.
A bread winner and a final year MBA student at Islamia College of Engineering and Technology, Swapna worked as a clerk and warden at a girls’ hostel. “Swapna was hard working and goal oriented,” said K Srikanth, a lecturer at the college. Survived by her mother, two sisters and a brother, Swapna had ventured into Dilsukhnagar to buy books for her upcoming MBA project and was accompanied by a colleague.
Meanwhile, Swapna’s sister Archana has levelled a different allegation. “When my sister visited our house around 4:30 pm on the fateful day, she was wearing jewellery worth Rs 4 lakh. When we went to claim her body none of it was there,” she said.
The explosion took place just as Swapna was boarding the bus at Dilsukhnagar. Bleeding profusely due to severe injuries on the back of her head and hand, Swapna managed to handover her phone to a bystander and asked him to call home before she fell unconscious.
Surender Reddy, Swapna’s brother-in-law, said her family came to know that she was taken to Osmania General Hospital only at 10 pm. Swapna’s family finally received her body at 3 am.
