Another prime accused in veterinary student death case in Kerala nabbed by police

Wayanad (Kerala): One of the main accused in the case relating to the death of a student of Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University here was caught by police in Palakkad district on Thursday.

A senior officer of Wayanad district police said the statement of the accused was being recorded and thereafter, he would be formally arrested.

On Wednesday, six out of the 18 accused in the case were arrested. However, they were not among the 12 main accused in the case.

The death of 20-year-old Siddharthan on February 18 has stirred up the political waters in the state with the Congress and then the BJP blaming the ruling CPI(M)'s student wing SFI of beating the young man to death.

The Students Federation of India (SFI) has denied the allegations.

Meanwhile, state Law Minister P Rajeev today said the government will take strict action irrespective of which organisation the accused belong to.

Siddharthan, a second year Bachelor of Veterinary Science and Animal Husbandry student, was found hanging in his hostel's bathroom on February 18.

Later, his parents claimed that some of his college mates told them that he was beaten to death by some local SFI leaders and activists.

The student's father contended that according to the postmortem report his son's body had three days' worth of injuries and an empty stomach, which indicated that he was brutally beaten up and not given any food.

Following the claims made by the parents of the student, the Congress and then the BJP alleged that the SFI had beaten him to death.

Based on the parents' claims, the police, which had initially registered a case of unnatural death, booked 12 students for various offences, including abetment of suicide, wrongful restraint and voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means, under the IPC and the Kerala Prohibition of Ragging Act.

Later, the number of accused increased to 18.