THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The government on Saturday decided to hand over the Siddharth death case to CBI, just hours after Siddharth's father Jayaprakash met CM Pinarayi Vijayan in the secretariat, to apprise about the doubts surrounding his son's death. The CM’s office released a press release highlighting the same and said that the CM decided on the CBI investigation after getting moved by the pain of the family.

The move also comes amidst allegations at the CM for not even visiting the victim’s house even one month after the gruesome death case. The sudden move to hand over the case to CBI is also viewed as a face-saving act by the government in the wake of the approaching Lok Sabha elections.

The Chief Minister directed the Home Secretary to immediately send a notification to the Centre on the handing over of the probe. The police will continue the investigation until the CBI arrives. The 20 accused students, including the two arrested yesterday, are in remand.

The CBI will take over the case and re-register the FIR after getting the approval of the Union Home and Personnel Ministries. The Thiruvananthapuram unit under the leadership of SP R Ramkumar will be investigating the case.

The CBI will try to find out whether the accused murdered Siddharth and hung his body in the bathroom. It will re-record the statements of the eyewitnesses and examine circumstantial and scientific evidence in detail to find out the truth.

The CBI is investigating a dozen cases, including the Periya double murder, the Walayar case and seven political murder cases in Malabar.

Why CBI?
1. Siddharth, who was severely beaten up, was not healthy enough to hang himself. The post-mortem report says that he was beaten up so badly that it was not possible for him to hang himself. He sustained serious injuries, including in his chest, abdomen and internal organs. The evidence was destroyed as the body was brought down by the accused.

2. There is a strong suspicion that Siddharth died when he was strangulated by the accused while beating him up. Indications were that the body's feet were on the ground and were folded. This must be proven through scientific testing. The experts at the central lab will find out whether he was strangled or not.

3. There is a mystery over the fact that the accused and teachers tried to change the statements of Siiddharth's classmates by threatening them. Dean, Warden and VC did not take any action even as Siddharth's screams were heard all over the campus. It is alleged that the complaint against Siddharth by a girl was fabricated following Siddharth's death.

The Ministry of Personnel will send the state government's notification to CBI headquarters and ask the agency to inform whether it is a case to be investigated by CBI. Soon after receiving the reply, the decision will be communicated to the state government. The police will be asked to hand over all the case documents immediately.

Things that CBI will try to find
1) Causes that led to death
2) Whether it was suicide or murder
3) Conspiracy behind the incident
4)Whether the brutal violence was pre-planned
5)Role of Dean and Warden
6)Whether an attempt was made to change the statements of witnesses
7)Lapses in police investigation
8) Did the accused get political asylum?