For weeks, the Kerala police were not able to trace him. But surprisingly, four days after Jishnu Pranoy’s mother Mahija, sister Avishna and uncle Sreejith started their hunger strike, the third accused in Jishnu’s suicide case and Nehru college of Engineering Vice Principal Shakthivel was arrested in Coimbatore. He was arrested from his friend’s farm house in Coimbatore.
Jishnu’s family was on a hunger strike seeking the arrest of two of the five accused in the case, Sakthivel and college PRO CP Praveen. The two had not been granted anticipatory bail in the case. They were accused by the family and college students of torturing and murdering Jishnu Pranoy.
Other than Shakthivel and Praveen, all the other accused in the case are on anticipatory bail. All five have been charged with abetment to suicide. According to Jishnu’s family, he was taken to Shakthivel’s room in the college after he was falsely accused of cheating in the exams. Jishnu’s relatives alleged that he was physically tortured in the VP’s room, and the injuries resulted in his death.
Later, blood stains were found from Shakthivel’s room and it was confirmed to be the same as Jishnu’s blood group. The samples have been sent for forensic tests to prove whether it was Jishnu’s blood.
Jishnu’s family’s forceful arrest and subsequent tussle outside DGP’s office in Thiruvananthapuram earlier this week had resulted in a lot of criticism against the PInarayi Vijayan government and Kerala police. Jishnu’s family had reached capital city to seeking the arrest of Sakthivel and Praveen.
Jishnu’s mother Mahija had earlier told media that they would continue the hunger strike till at least one of the accused was arrested.
The government meanwhile is trying to convince the family to end the hunger strike. CPI leader Kanam Rajendran and CP Udayabhanu (Public Prosecutor in the case) met the family on Sunday to convey the government’s message.
(This story was originally published in The News Minute.)
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