Medical students kill 'thief'

PUNE: Did the B.J. medical college management act responsibly to try to prevent its students from allegedly thrashing a suspected thief to death in the hostel premises?
Investigations by TNN have revealed that college rector S.V. Ghorpade was informed by the hostel watchman when the students were allegedly thrashing the unidentified man on the premises on October 15.
However, the rector, who is also head of the tuberculosis and chest diseases department, neither visited the spot nor attempted to dissuade the students from taking the law in their hands.
Instead, he sent a message through the watchman asking the students to stop beating the man and turn him over to the police.
While hostel rectors are supposed to spend the night on the premises to keep a watch on hostel inmates, Ghorpade admitted to TNN that the room he was provided in the hostel was unoccupied as he stayed in his Nana Peth flat.
He said that he visited the hostel for his daily rounds at 7 am.
Ghorpade said that on the day of the incident, he went directly to the college at 8 am as he was busy with a tuberculosis sensitisation programme in his department.
On Tuesday, the city police arrested four students for allegedly thrashing the suspected "thief" to death on the hostel premises. They have been charged with murder under Section 302 of Indian Penal Code.
"The students beat the thief with their hands, not with sticks and stones, as claimed by the police," Ghorpade stressed.
"The man walked out of the hostel on his own feet. It was only later that his body was found," Ghorpade said, hinting that it was likely that he was killed outside the hostel by some other person.
The police have rejected this version and said that they were searching for the sticks with which the man was allegedly beaten by the students.
Post-mortem reports indicated that the man suffered injuries caused by hard objects on the head and back, and even had a ruptured liver and spleen.
"The rector should have taken some action if he knew about the incident.We will decide whether any action needs to be taken against the college management," assistant police inspector Mohan Nimbalkar told TNN.
The police are also on the look-out for another third-year MBBS student, Pritam Kadam, suspected to be involved in the alleged murder.
College dean V.L. Yemul said, "I don''t think Ghorpade failed in his duty. He was busy with some other things when it happened, or else we make it a point to personally visit the scene of such incidents."
He said Ghorpade was a strict rector who had brought discipline to the hostel.