The Hyderabad police probing the suicide of former Andhra Pradesh Assembly Speaker Kodela Sivaprasada Rao is analysing the data on the phone calls he made before ending his life on Monday.

Assistant Commissioner of Police K. Srinivas Rao on Wednesday said they were analysing the call details.

Talking to reporters, he dismissed as rumours reports doing the rounds on the social media about the last call made by Kodela, as Rao was popularly known.

The conversation Kodela had during his last phone calls could throw light on the reasons for him taking the extreme step.

Kodela hanged himself at his residence in the posh Banjara Hills neighbourhood on Monday.

The ACP said so far they have questioned 12 people as part of the investigations into the suicide case. The statements of Kodela’s wife and daughter were also recorded.

Police officials said the statement of Kodela’s son Sivarama Krishna will be recorded soon.

Krishna, who was abroad, returned home on Tuesday and is currently in Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh to perform his father’s last rites.

The ACP said the police were yet to receive the final autopsy report.

Kodela’s daughter P. Vijayalakshmi told police in her complaint that she found him hanging from the ceiling around 11.10 a.m. when she went to his room on the first floor to inform him that she was going to a hospital with her mother.

Vijayalakshmi told police that with the help of the driver and gunman, she lowered his body to the floor and then shifted him to Basvatarakam Indo-American Cancer Hospital where doctors failed in their efforts to revive him.

Police have sealed the room where the senior Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leader hanged himself. The investigators, who gathered clues from the scene, were also examining the medicines the deceased leader was using.

Vijayalakshmi, in her police complaint, alleged that the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) government in Andhra Pradesh was harassing her father politically to take revenge. She said false cases were filed against him and other family members. She alleged that the government was continuously harassing him mentally due to which he got depressed and took the extreme step.

Kodela, who had also served as minister in undivided Andhra Pradesh, is suspected to have used a cable to hang himself after he reportedly failed in using a cloth for the purpose.

As Kodela was staying at his residence in Hyderabad for 20 days, police sources also believe that he had planned the suicide.

Terming Kodela’s suicide as a murder by the YSRCP government, TDP President N. Chandrababu Naidu has demanded a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The former Chief Minister alleged that the harassment by the government and the insults he was subjected to pushed him to end his life.

Kodela and his son were last month booked by Andhra Pradesh police for allegedly diverting Assembly furniture to unauthorized premises. Some furniture was recovered from a motorbike showroom belonging to Sivarama Krishna in Guntur.

The YSRCP, however, has rubbished the TDP allegations. Its leaders claimed that Naidu was responsible for Kodela’s death as he was sidelining him. They also alleged that differences in the family led to the suicide.

Meanwhile, the funeral procession of Kodela began in his home town of Narsraopet in Guntur district amid tight security.

Did former Speaker Kodela Sivaprasada Rao die like ‘Palnadu Tiger’ living upto his popular name? Huge crowds packed the streets for Kodela funeral procession in Narasaraopet town. His followers, fans and TDP activists arrived from all over the Guntur district. They bid a tearful adieu to the sensible leader who fell victim to insensible politics. Followers recalled how Kodela fought and rooted out blood-thirsty factions in Palnadu region but eventually lost his life to the same factionists imported from infamous Pulivendula.

AP Police were shocked at the huge turnout for Kodela last journey. They imposed restrictions but the fans and greatly mover people entered the town boldly to have a last look at their leader. Seeing the surge of emotions, the ruling YCP Ministers and MLAs have fallen dead silent today. CM Jagan master plan to blame TDP internal groupism has failed. TDP followers squarely blamed Jagan’s witch-hunt vendetta and mindless police cases for Kodela suicide. Kodela fans are now confident that Jagan and the police officers concerned will now face it in the people’s court. Chandrababu Naidu took part all through Kodela last journey. He told Kodela fans that he would make Jagan and his police accountable for his suicide.

The last rites of former Andhra Pradesh Assembly Speaker Kodela Sivaprasada Rao, who committed suicide in Hyderabad on Monday, will be performed with state honours in his home town Narsaraopet in Guntur district on Wednesday.

Chief Minister Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy announced that Rao will be cremated with state honours. He directed the chief secretary to make the necessary arrangements in this regard.

Rao’s son Sivarama Krishna, who was on a visit to Kenya, landed in Vijayawada on Tuesday afternoon. He later left for Narsaraopet.

Meanwhile, the senior Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leader’s body was shifted from Hyderabad to Guntur by road. TDP president N. Chandrababu Naidu, his son N. Lokesh and senior party leaders accompanied the body.

Braving heavy rain, TDP workers paid their last respects to Rao at different places as the procession entered Guntur district. The body will be kept at the TDP office in Guntur town to enable party leaders to pay homage. It will then be taken to Narsaraopet.

Police have made elaborate security arrangements in Guntur district to prevent any untoward incident. Prohibitory orders have been imposed to prevent any outbreak of violence.

Blaming the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) government for Rao’s death, the TDP staged protests in Guntur and other districts on Tuesday.

Holding black flags and pictures of Rao, TDP workers took out rallies, raising slogans against the government. They alleged that harassment by the government forced Rao to take the extreme step.

The 72-year-old, who also served as minister in undivided Andhra Pradesh, committed suicide by hanging himself at his residence in Hyderabad on Monday. The family members told the police that he was under stress.

Terming this as a murder by the government, Chandrababu Naidu demanded a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). He told reporters in Hyderabad that the government of Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy humiliated Rao and harassed him physically, mentally and economically, leading to his death.

“Such an incident has not happened anywhere in the country. Never before a senior leader like Kodela committed suicide due to harassment by the government,” said the former chief minister.

Naidu said Jagan Mohan Reddy, who was chargesheeted by the CBI for corruption to the tune of Rs.43,000 crore, got a case booked against Rao in connection with furniture valued at just one or two lakh rupees.

The TDP chief was referring to the case against Rao for allegedly diverting Assembly furniture.

Rao and his son Sivarama Krishna were last month booked by Andhra Pradesh police for allegedly diverting Assembly furniture to unauthorized premises. Some furniture was recovered from a motorbike showroom of Sivarama Krishna in Guntur.

The YSRCP rubbished Naidu’s allegations that harassment by the government drove Rao to suicide. YSRCP leader and Government Chief Whip G. Srikanth Reddy alleged that Naidu is playing politics over the death.

He pointed out that a member of Rao’s family has lodged a complaint with the police that a dispute in the family led to his death.

The Telangana police visited the spot, made enquiries and came to a preliminary understanding that AP Former Speaker committed suicide by hanging himself in the first floor of his residence in Hyderabad. Kodela wife, family members and attenders narrated how the 72-year-old TDP leader looked dejected over police cases before locking up himself up in his bedroom. Around 10 am, he took breakfast with his wife and went into his room never to return alive.

After sometime, Kodela’s wife tried to enter the bedroom but it was locked from inside and there was no response from him. She alerted the attenders who looked from the outside windows only to find the Former Speaker hanging from the ceiling fan. They immediately broke open the door and shifted the body to Basava Tarakam Cancer Hospital.

It was soon found out that Kodela passed away. However, different versions are being circulated since the news broke out. Jagan Media floated theories of heart attack just like they did at the time of YS Vivekananda Reddy murder. Now the scene is reversing. The question is whether Telangana police will conduct a fair probe or not.