Chennai police are on the lookout for two final year medical students who were tipped off to be the minds behind the horrifying video of dropping a dog from a rooftop.
Last night, two teams were on their way to nab the students Gautam Sudarshan and Ashish Paul - but on reaching Madha Medical College, they were found to be absconding.
The family of the two students have been intimated, and have been given time till evening to produce them before the police.
"We have formed a disciplinary committee to deal with the issue. We didn't know about the incident until today, but found that they hadn't attended classes for a week. We will suspend them or take the appropriate action once they surrender to the police", said S Peter, Chairman of the Madha Group of Institutions.
The News Minute managed to contact Ashish Paul, the purported camera person behind the video. In a quivering voice, he denied his role and said someone was trying to frame him. He also claimed to not have heard of Gautam before.
The two have been booked under sections 428, 429 (Mischief by maiming or killing an animal) and the Prevention of Cruelty Act, 1960.
The video went viral on Monday and shows the dog shaking as the man poses for the camera and drops the dog down from the terrace. The video ends with the sound of the dog crying in pain.
While Gautam went home to Chennai, the other returned to his village, police claimed.
"This issue had surfaced two weeks ago when the video was uploaded. However, when students of the college recognized Gautam and tried to reveal his identity, they were threatened by him," said Shravan Krishnan, one of the activists who accompanied the police.
Earlier, the Humane Society International/India offered a reward of Rs 100,000 to anyone who was willing to voluntarily provide valid information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person.