Death of Siddharth: Accused threatened students not to reveal anything, victim was subjected to brutal harassment

WAYANAD: Some crucial information has surfaced in the case of Siddharth, a second-year student of Pookode Veterinary University, who committed suicide. The students told police that the accused had threatened them not to reveal the brutal harassment faced by Siddharth.

The information received by the police is that such brutal harassments had happened in the university before. The police found that even after the accused brutally beat Siddharth for three hours continuously, not a single student responded.

The unwritten rule is that even if fights break out in college hostels, nothing should go out. This paved the way for Siddharth to end his life. He was brutally harassed in front of the students in the courtyard of the hostel. One of the accused identified as Sinjo Johnson threatened the students after the incident. They threatened Siddharth that he would be killed if divulged the information. With this, Siddharth was physically and mentally exhausted.

So far six people have been arrested in the incident. The police arrested six of the eight people summoned to give their statement the other day. The police have clarified that they were arrested after their involvement in the death during detailed interrogation became clear. Bilgate Joshua of Sultan Bathery, Abhishek S of Idukki, Akash S D of Konchiravila in Thiruvananthapuram, Dons Dai from Thodupuzha, Binoy of Thiruvananthapuram and Sreehari R of Thiruvananthapuram were arrested. There are 18 accused in the case. The police said that 12 people, including the SFI unit secretary, are absconding.

The police had earlier taken a case against K Arun, N Asif Khan, SFI unit secretary Amal Ihsan, K Akhil, R S Kasinathan, Ameen Akbar Ali, Sinjo Johnson, J Ajay, E K Saud Risal, A Althaf, V Adithyan and M Muhammed Danish. Four are Siddharth’s classmates. All 12 students were suspended from the college pending investigation.

After the postmortem report came out, it became clear that Siddharth was subjected to brutal harassment. Siddharth had bruises all over his body. It was clear that these injuries occurred two to three days before his death. He suffered head, jaw and back injuries. Meantime, it has been confirmed in the post-mortem report that he died by hanging. Siddharth, a native of Nedumangad in Thiruvananthapuram, was found dead in the bathroom of the hostel on February 18 afternoon.