College chairman, four others named accused

THRISSUR: Police on Monday filed a report at Wadakkanchery court arraigning five persons as accused in the case related to the death of engineering student Jishnu Pranoy of Nehru College of Engineering and Research Centre (NCERC), Pambady here.
The report by the special investigating team (SIT) before judicial first class magistrate, named P Krishna Das, chairman and managing trustee of Nehru College of Educational and Charitable Trust as the first accused.
Vice-principal M K Sakthivel, assistant professor C P Praveen, public relations officer Sanjith Viswanathan and examination cell member Dipin are the other accused.
They have been charged under various sections of the Indian Penal Code -- Section 306 (abetment of suicide), Section 323 (simple hurt) Section 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy), Section 468 (forgery for the purpose of cheating), Section 384 and Section 201 (destruction of evidence).
The SIT, headed by ASP Kiran Narayanan, said the accused had been nursing a grudge against Jishnu for having participated in a students’ agitation and for posting against the college on social media. The accused had allegedly conspired to implicate Jishnu and had fabricated evidence to support the charges, said the report. They had also assaulted Jishnu and destroyed CCTV cameras to wipe out evidence, it said.
According to police sources, all the accused were absconding, even though the police had launched measures to nab them on Sunday night itself.
In another related development, Nedupuzha police have launched a probe into a death threat received by probe officer Narayanan. The phone number has been traced to a shop in Kochi.
Various students’ organizations and political parties staged agitations at the college, demanding action against the management. Jishnu’s relatives and neighbours also launched an agitation.
Meanwhile, Kerala University of Health Sciences has informed that BPharm first year supplementary exam of Pharmacy College of Nehru Group would start on Wednesday at the college itself. Second year supplementary exam, scheduled for Tuesday, would be held at Prime College, Palakkad, as decided earlier.