Jishnu Pranoy’s family called off their hunger strike on Sunday evening, which they had begun five days ago demanding the arrest of at least one accused in the case.
The family’s decision come after police arrested the third accused MK Sakthivel, who was vice principal of Nehru College of Engineering in Thrissur, where Jishnu studied.
Police arrested Sakthivel, who was on the run for the past three months, from Coimbatore on Sunday afternoon.
While Jishnu’s mother Mahija and uncle Sreejith called of their hunger strike from Thiruvananthapuram Medical College, Jishnu’s younger sister Avishna ender her fast at her house in Nadapuram.
The family also had a long discussion with CP Udayabhanu (Public Prosecutor in the case) and state attorney KV Sohan, with whom they spoke for about three hours.
"The state government has given us a written agreement that all the demands that we raised have been met. We fully trust the two state government representatives who will ensure that the agreements will be met," said Sreejith who announced that Mahija is ending her fast and so is her daughter Avishna who is also fasting at their home near Kozhikode.
Sohan told the media in front of the hospital that Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan called up Mahija and assured her that her demands will be met.
Earlier in the day, Communist Party of India-Marxist chief Yechury also spoke to Mahija for 10 minutes and assured her that the state government will do all that is necessary.
All these days, Vijayan had stood his ground and even refused to meet or speak to Mahija and all along defended the action of police and gave them a clean chit.
And to top it all, the government released an advertisement titled "Jishnu Case – The truth behind it" in Saturday's newspapers, detailing the sequence of events on the action taken in the alleged suicide of the student.
It was immediately slammed by the student's family.
With the agreement, the state government appears to have retracted from it.
Sreejith told media that CPI (M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury has spoken to him over phone. But he said that he was asked not to reveal what was discussed with Yechury.
The family had been on a strike since last Thursday, after police forcibly arrested them from outside the DGP’s office, when they arrived there to protest on Wednesday.
The health of Mahija and her daughter Avishna had weakened following which Mahija was shifted to ICU.
Jishnu was found hanging in January on the campus of the Nehru College of Engineering and Research, in Thrissur.
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