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How a 16-year-old tribal girl was rescued from the clutches of her family

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  A 16-year-old girl was taken captive by her own family members. She became a prisoner in their hands. The ‘prison’ was bizarre. I went there to see for myself what was happening and to write a news report. This was in 1996. I was then working for A P Times. It baffled me as to how the family could have come up with such an idea. “It is the idea of a relative of the family,” the villagers told me. I travelled to this far-flung village in Mahbubnagar district to see this, and what I learnt was something I felt was criminal. A room was constructed for the girl to stay in. Here’s the catch. There was no door to the room. She could not come out of it, even if she wanted to. She had to use the same room to attend nature’s calls. From a small opening in one of the walls, she was given food to eat. This completely enclosed space was all her world. “Why?” I asked the family. “People are already flocking to our place from nearby villages in large numbers. They are paying obeisance to her,”...
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Sushil Rao Chilkuri presented “Legend Award” at Hybiz tv Media Awards 2026

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      After having been a journalist for the last 38 years, it indeed was a moment of crowning glory when Information Technology, Electronics and Communication, Industry and Commerce, and Legislative Affairs Minister Duddilla Sridhar Babu bestowed on me the “Media Legend Award” at a function held at Cyber Gardens, Hitec City, Hyderabad, on May 2, 2026. The media awards were instituted in 2021 by Hybiz TV to recognise media professionals for their work in different streams. During the media awards for the year 2026, apart from the awards given away in various categories, five personalities were chosen by a committee to be honoured with the Legend Award. It indeed is an honour for me that I was chosen. It was indeed a privilege receiving the Media Legend Award from Minister Sridhar Babu, Vivek Gupta, President, Indian Newspaper Society, former MP (Rajya Sabha) and Publisher of Sunmarg, Narendra Ram Nambula, Chairman and Managing Director of Lifespan Pvt Ltd, M Ravinder Redd...
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True story: When the most wanted criminal could not run away from himself

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  True story: When the most wanted criminal could not run away from himself An imagined posthumously written last page in the diary of Pallakonda Raju  Everyone wished to see my end. That it came soon. With torture added. You wanted to see fear writ large on my face. You wanted me to notice that they had no pity whatsoever for me. I did not deserve any of their pity, after all that I had done. I saw the celebrations that took place at Singareni Colony in Saidabad in Hyderabad, when the news burst on everyone’s faces that I had died. They burst crackers. There were some who wanted to dismember my body. That would have meant death several times over—for their sake. Their anger was justified. They made no bones of their intentions. I won't sit in judgment over them and the stance they took. What moral right do I have anyway? When I did the unthinkable to a little girl, I had stripped myself of all my rights to live after that. I had myself signed my death warrant then itself. As ...
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Profile of Chilkuri Sushil Rao, Journalist

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Profile of  Chilkuri Sushil Rao, Journalist.  Overview Chilkuri Sushil Rao from Hyderabad has been a journalist since 1988.  He has been with The Times of India, Hyderabad since its launch in Hyderabad from the year 2000. He is Editor-Special Reports and focuses on covering Defence, Indian diaspora across the world, the Telugu film industry, socially relevant subjects and Telangana state. He has covered several elections during his career as a journalist, including interviewing national leaders and doing investigative reports. He began his journalism career at the age of 20 and has completed 37 years in journalism in 2025. He is a gold medalist in bachelor’s in Communication and Journalism from the Department of Communication and Journalism, Arts College, Osmania University, Hyderabad. He also did his Master’s in journalism from the same department. In the socially relevant stories that he has written, Chilkuri Sushil Rao wrote reports highlighting the plight of women tra...
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You know the story. Now know the story behind the story in Saye Sekhar's book "WittyLeaks"

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 You know the story. Now know the story behind the story in  Saye Sekhar's book "WittyLeaks"  You know the story. Now know the story behind the story in Saye Sekhar's book "WittyLeaks"  When a celebrity journalist like Saye Sekhar deems it worthy to say some kind words about my professionalism, it speaks more for his magnanimity and generosity than me deserving such praise.  Appreciation by a peer, especially by a friend and colleague with whom I worked shoulder to shoulder, is valuable and precious.  While reading Saye Sekhar’s debut book “WittyLeaks”, I thoroughly enjoyed every chapter. Saye is known for his wit and grit. He has stored every single detail in his mind over the last few decades to recall and put them down in writing. That’s the man. A journalist who will seek out the last detail possible to know. His photographic memory, as I have seen, is exceptional. At times, when I was reading the book, I simply put it aside and wondered: “How could the...
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Ramoji Rao published an editorial in "Eenadu" about me and my friends. Here's why

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                 Ramoji Rao published an editorial  in "Eenadu" about me and my friends. Here's why                Ramoji Rao published an editorial in "Eenadu" about me and my friends. Here's why Ramoji Rao garu wrote an editorial about us in ‘Eenadu’. This lengthy editorial on a Sunday took my friends and me by complete surprise. We were elated that an unusual programme - unheard of - for that matter - that my friends and I organised at Arts College, Osmania University, caught his attention. The editorial, while lauding us for thinking of holding such a programme, appreciated us for thinking of talking openly about such as thing as we did, on the campus, for the benefit of students. The editorial also suggested that such ‘out-of-the-box’ ideas should be encouraged and appreciated. I had never met Ramoji Rao garu till then. In fact, it would only be two decades later that I would have a chanc...
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