Kerala's Pookode vet student's death: Police arrests two more
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Wayanad: Following the surrender of two accused in the Pookode veterinary college death case, Kerala Police arrested two more accused on Friday, PTI reported.
A student, Siddharthan, of the Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University at Pookode committed suicide in his college hostel washroom on February 18 after he was allegedly subjected to brutal ragging, including beating naked in public.
A third accused in the case was nabbed from Kollam, but his arrest is yet to be recorded. All three were among the 12 main accused in the case. So far, police have arrested nine students.
Siddharthan's death has stirred up the political waters in the state, with the Congress and the BJP accusing the ruling CPI(M)'s student wing SFI of beating the young man to death.
The Students Federation of India (SFI) has denied the allegations.
The victim's parents have claimed that some of his college mates told them that he was beaten to death by some local SFI leaders and activists.
The father contended that according to the postmortem report, his son's body had three days' worth of injuries and an empty stomach, which indicated that he was brutally beaten up and not given any food.
On Wednesday, six out of the 18 accused in the case were arrested. However, they were not among the 12 main accused.
The police, which had initially registered a case of unnatural death, had later booked 12 students for various offences, including abetment of suicide, wrongful restraint, and voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means under the IPC and the Kerala Prohibition of Ragging Act.
Subsequently, the number of accused increased to 18.
