Kerala vet student’s death: Government to hand over probe to CBI

Kerala student death: Congress, IUML, AAP workers lay siege to Secretariat; cops deploy water cannons

Not suicide, says victim’s father

In the meeting with the chief minister, he also mentioned that considering the injuries suffered by his son — mentioned in the post-mortem report — several doctors had opined that Siddharthan could not have even stood up by himself.

“Therefore, I told the chief minister that my son was killed and it was not a suicide,” he said.

Later the chief minister’s office issued a statement. “Siddharthan’s father and other family members had met the CM today at his office. They demanded a CBI inquiry. The police had investigated the case in an efficient manner and had arrested all the culprits behind it. But considering the feelings of Siddharthan’s father and other family members, the government will ask the CBI to take over the investigation.”

Also Read: Siddharthan was stripped, assaulted using a belt and wire, says remand report

College dean, hostel warden suspended

Earlier, Dr MK Narayanan, the dean of the college, and R Kanthanadhan, the assistant warden of the men’s hostel, were suspended in connection with the death.

Siddharthan’s father told reporters that the mere suspension of the dean and the assistant warden was not enough. “They should be dismissed from service and should also face legal action,” he demanded.

He said that if the probe is handed over to the CBI, he has a lot more to tell the agency about the dean and the assistant warden.

Siddharthan’s death had sparked widespread outrage across the state.

Kerala Governor Arif Mohammad Khan, as Chancellor of Universities in the state, had suspended the Vice Chancellor of the university, Prof (Dr) MR Saseendranath, for negligence. A judicial probe was also ordered to look into the incident.

Police had arrested 18 accused students, who were remanded in judicial custody.

Also Read: Congress seeks CBI probe into death of student at Kerala Veterinary university

Victim brutally beaten, starved 

In the remand report submitted on 3 March, that police said that a belt and a cable wire were used to assault Siddharthan, and requested the court not to give bail to the accused, as the parents of the deceased had claimed that the victim would not have killed himself.

The report said that his classmates and a senior held a public trial inside the hostel alleging that he had misbehaved with a female student.

“He was stripped down to his underwear and the accused assaulted him. Some of them used a belt and a cable wire,” the report said. It said that the assault began around 9 pm on 16 February and lasted till 2 am on 17 February.

The police have charged the accused under Sections 341 (wrongful restraint), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 324 (voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapon), and 306 (Abetment of suicide) of the Indian Penal Code, and relevant sections of the Kerala Prohibition of Ragging Act.

The victim’s father contended that according to the postmortem report his son was starved and beaten up.

Allegations of severe harassment and physical torture allegedly from ragging have been raised against members of SFI, the student wing of the ruling CPI(M).

Political tensions in the state escalated with both the Congress and the BJP accusing the SFI of beating Siddharthan to death. The SFI, however, denied the allegations.

(With PTI inputs)