Authorities had earlier suspended 19 veterinary college students following a preliminary inquiry conducted by the anti-ragging committee (Representational image)
The death of a veterinary university student was linked to the suspected involvement of activists of SFI, the student wing of the ruling CPI(M).
MK Narayanan, dean of the College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences in Pookode, was suspended on Tuesday in connection with the death of a veterinary university student, which has rocked Kerala due to the alleged role of student activists of the ruling CPI(M). Have given. Organization SFI. Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University Vice-Chancellor PC Saseendran also suspended R Kanthanadhan, who was holding the charge of assistant warden, in the case of Siddharthan JS’s death.
In a statement, the vice-chancellor said the university will provide all assistance to the government and judicial agencies to unearth the truth of the incident and ensure punishment for those involved in the crime. Earlier, the university had issued show cause notices to the dean and assistant warden in connection with Siddharthan’s death.
Narayanan had denied allegations that he neglected to inform Siddharthan’s parents about his demise. He also told the media that he had asked Siddharthan’s friends to break the news to the family.
The authorities had earlier suspended 19 students of the veterinary college after a preliminary investigation conducted by the anti-ragging committee found them involved in alleged atrocities against the victim. Last week, Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan, as chancellor of universities in the state, had suspended university vice-chancellor MR Saseendranath over Siddharthan’s death case.
In the suspension order, Khan had said that a report given by Sasindranath about the incident was “evidence of gross dereliction of duty on the part of the Vice Chancellor during the incident” which led to the death of the 20-year-old. Old Siddharth died on 18th February. The police had arrested all the 18 accused in the case related to Siddharth, who was found hanging in the bathroom of the college hostel.
The police have booked the accused under Indian Penal Code sections 341 (wrongful restraint), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 324 (voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapon), 306 (abetment of suicide) and relevant sections of the Kerala Prohibition. is charged. Of Ragging Act. According to the police, Siddharthan’s classmates and seniors organized a public trial inside the hostel and alleged that he had misbehaved with a college student.
Siddharthan was a second year Bachelor of Veterinary Science and Animal Husbandry student. His parents have claimed that some of his college classmates told them that he was beaten to death by some local SFI leaders and activists. The father argued that as per the postmortem report, there were injuries on his son’s body and his stomach was empty, which showed that he was brutally beaten and not given anything.
Following the parents’ claims, there was a political uproar in the state as Congress and BJP accused SFI, the student wing of the ruling CPI(M), of lynching Siddharthan. The Students Federation of India (SFI) has denied the allegations.
