Reason behind student death that rocked Kerala ‘still obscure’, says anti-ragging panel | Thiruvananthapuram News
The college anti-ragging committee that looked into the death of a veterinary student in Kerala’s Wayanad district said in its report that while he had been subjected to physical assault by several students before he was found hanging in the hostel, the reasons for the assault and “actual cause of death” are “still obscure”. J S Sidharthan, a second-year student at the College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences in Wayanad’s Pookode was found dead in the college hostel on February 18 in what was suspected to be suicide. So far, 20 students, including four office-bearers of the Students Federation of India (SFI), the student wing of the CPI(M), have been arrested in connection with the case. In the days before his death, Sidharthan was allegedly tortured, assaulted, and put on public trial by the accused students. On Saturday, the state government decided to hand over the probe to the CBI in the wake of mounting protests from the Opposition and demand from Sidharthan’s family. While it has been reported that he was assaulted and put …