Kannur, July 21 (IANS) Kerala Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala has ordered a fresh investigation into the death of BDS student Nithin Raj after the release of the prime accused, Dr M.K. Ram, on procedural grounds exposed serious lapses in the Crime Branch probe.
Expressing strong displeasure over the developments, Chennithala sought an urgent report from the Director General of Police (DGP) and directed the Crime Branch chief to explain the lapses that led to the court granting relief to the accused.
A new Special Investigation Team, headed by IG Ajitha Begum, has been constituted to take over the probe, while the North Zone IG has been tasked with examining what exactly went wrong in the investigation.
The decision follows allegations that the present Crime Branch team committed serious procedural errors during Ram’s arrest on Monday.
The Thalassery Principal Sessions Court ordered his release after finding that mandatory legal procedures had not been followed.
The investigating team allegedly failed to furnish the accused with the written grounds of arrest and also delayed informing the Public Prosecutor about the arrest.
Immediately after the court ordered his release, however, the Crime Branch took Ram back into custody from the court premises, a move criticised by the defence as illegal.
Late in the night, Ram was served a notice to appear before the probe team after two days.
Nithin Raj’s family welcomed the decision to appoint a new probe team but said they had completely lost faith in the existing Crime Branch investigators.
The student’s mother alleged that collusion between the police and the accused had enabled Ram to secure bail.
Chennithala, however, maintained that there had been no deliberate lapse on the part of the police and said the fresh probe was being ordered to address all doubts raised by the family.
The case has attracted widespread attention since Nithin Raj, a Dalit BDS student, died by suicide on April 10. His family has consistently alleged that sustained caste-based humiliation by faculty members drove him to take the extreme step.
They also accused the local police of initially diverting the investigation towards a loan-app angle, allowing Ram to remain absconding for 101 days.
Ram was eventually arrested in Kodagu after investigators tracked a new mobile number allegedly obtained while he was staying at his daughter’s apartment in Bengaluru.
Ironically, after weeks of pursuit and despite higher courts refusing him anticipatory bail, the arrest itself has now come under scrutiny for procedural lapses, prompting the government to order a fresh investigation.
–IANS
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