4 SFI members among 11 arrested in Kerala college student death

Police have identified 18 students as accused in the case.

The four SFI leaders whose arrests were recorded on Friday were college union president K Arun, SFI unit secretary Amal Ihsan, and unit members Asif Khan and S Abhishek. The SFI, the student wing of the ruling CPI(M), has sacked the four.

Police initially registered a case of unnatural death, but have now framed charges under IPC sections related to abetment of suicide, wrongful restraint, and voluntarily causing hurt, as well as the Kerala Prohibition of Ragging Act.

The postmortem report said findings were “consistent with death due to hanging”. It also said Sidharthan had “sustained multiple blunt injuries, including tramline contusion of 2-3 days on the body suggestive of assault”. Tramline contusion occurs when the skin is struck by a rod or rectangular-sectioned object.

M Shibu, Sidharthan’s uncle, said: “We were told by students that seniors were irked over Sidharthan dancing with girls of their batch (on Valentine’s Day). The next day, he left the Wayanad campus and went home to Thiruvananthapuram as there was no class on February 16 and 17…  While he was travelling by train to Thiruvananthapuram on the night of February 15, he was told by a classmate to return to the campus. He said he wanted Sidharthan to submit a paper the next day…”

Back on campus, Sidharthan was allegedly tortured for the next two days. He was allegedly stripped and assaulted with a belt. “He was shut in a room and not given food,” his uncle Shibu said. “We suspect the students had hanged him seeing his deteriorating health condition. They wanted to make it a suicide.”