Six held in custody for ragging death of Wayanad Vet student

Kalpetta: Six people are in custody in connection with the tragic death of a student of the Veterinary and Animal Sciences College at Pookode here. All of them are the latest names to be associated with the case. 

Meanwhile, the first 12 accused, including SFI union leaders, are still at large. The police will soon record the arrest of the six individuals taken into custody on Wednesday afternoon. 

The police summoned eight students on Wednesday for questioning in connection with the alleged ragging and physical torture inflicted on Siddharthan, a BVSc student in the college and native of Nedumangad, who was found hanging in his hostel toilet on January 18. After questioning, six were taken into custody, thus totalling the number of accused to 18 in the case.

SFI college union president K Arun, office bearer N Asif Khan (20), SFI unit secretary Amal Ehsan (20), K Akhil (23), R S Kasinathan (19), Ameen Akbar Ali (19), Sinjo Johnson (20), K Ajay (20), E K Saud Rizal (22), A Althaf (22), V Adithyan (22) and M Muhammed Danish (22) are the first 12 accused in the case who is at large. Four of them are classmates of the deceased. All of them were suspended from the college following the incident.

The police are facing criticism over not arresting the accused, including SFI leaders. The police had initially registered the case as a natural death. However, later complaints were filed by his parents alleging that Siddharthan had been a victim of ragging. It was alleged that Siddharthan had to face a mob trial over a Valentine’s Day dispute and was inflicted with severe physical and mental harassment. He was allegedly left starving for three days and beaten up continuously. The postmortem report, which came out the previous day, also indicated the same.

The postmortem report also revealed bruise injuries in his chest and stomach and ligature/strangulation marks on the neck.