Hyderabad: Former CBI director and two-time Hyderabad police commissioner K. Vijaya Rama Rao passed away on Monday evening. He was 85.
Rama Rao, also a former minister in the N. Chandrababu Naidu-led government in united Andhra Pradesh, was admitted to a city hospital a few days ago after suffering a brain stroke. He was declared dead by the hospital around 7 pm.
Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao, condoling Vijaya Rama Rao’s death in a message, recalled his association with the former IPS officer-turned-politician and said that as a government officer and as a people’s representative, Vijaya Rama Rao rendered commendable service.
Praying for the departed soul, the Chief Minister said that the last rites of the former minister will be conducted with full state honours.
Union Minister G. Kishan Reddy also paid tribute to Rama Rao, calling him a soft-spoken and sincere person.
N. Chandrababu Naidu said that Vijaya Rama Rao, as the CBI director and later as a minister, provided great service to the people.
Ministers and senior political leaders, including T. Harish Rao, Errabelli Dayakar Rao, Vemula Prashant Reddy, A. Indrakaran Reddy and TDP leader K. Atchannaidu, also paid tribute to the deceased.
A 1995-batch officer of the Indian Police Service, Vijaya Rama Rao was born in Eturunagaram village in what is now the Mulugu district. He did his schooling in Nellore and studied at Madras University.
Before joining the IPS, he worked as a lecturer at SSR Degree College in Karimangar. Vijaya Rao Rao was handpicked to head the CBI by the then Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao, and during his stint at the investigating agency, he worked on the hawala scam, the Babri Masjid demolition case, and the Mumbai blasts case, among other high-profile cases.
He joined the Telugu Desam and in his first outing in electoral politics in 1999, defeated Congress strongman and former minister P. Janardhan Reddy in the Khairatabad constituency. He was made a minister by Naidu, first as the commercial taxes minister, and later as the roads and buildings minister.
After the formation of Telangana, Vijaya Rama Rao joined the TRS (now BRS) but stayed away from active politics.
In addition to heading the city police, he also worked twice as the state’s intelligence chief, first as a DIG in the Jalagam Vengal Rao government, and for the second time in the TD government led by N.T. Rama Rao.
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