The recent Jishnu Pranoy suicide took a shocking turn on Friday, with the forensic team finding blood stains in the office of the Vice Principal (VP) of the Nehru College of Engineering at Pambady in Thrissur.
Jishnu, an 18-year old first year student of the college had reportedly killed himself on 06 January , following charges of cheating in an examination by college authorities. There were also allegations that the Vice Principal had brutally assaulted Jishnu in his office for cheating during the exam.
“Forensic experts have found blood stains from the room. We plan to send the collected samples to the Forensic Science Laboratory at Thiruvananthapuram to verify whether it matches with that of Jishnu.
Further investigation will be undertaken based on the detailed forensic report,” confirmed Thrissur Rural SP N Vijayakumar, while speaking to The News Minute.
According to the SP, forensic examination was conducted in many rooms in the college as well as the Boys’ hostel, including that of the college PRO who is also implicated in Jishnu’s death.
Meanwhile, the college which had shut down following Jishnu’s death, reopened on Friday, following over a month-long student protest over the mystery surrounding Jishnu’s death and the alleged cover-up by college authorities.
Speaking to TNM, Students Federation of India (SFI -a Left students’ union) state Secretary Vijin said that the latest revelation has only proved them right.
"Since the day Jishnu died, we have been maintaining that he did not kill himself, and that it was a deliberate murder. The blood stains found in both the VP's and Jishnu's hostel rooms substantiate our argument," he averred.
With classes resuming on Friday after a shutdown of 37 days following the student agitation, student unions claim they are making efforts to ensure that academic classes will no longer be disrupted.
"Exams are scheduled in March, and students have already missed out on a whole lot of classes. Several parents have approached us with this concern. SFI will continue to hold protests against the college, but in a way that will not affect the conduct of classes.
We have reached a consensus with the college authorities, only with regard to Management policies. But we remain rooted to our demand that criminal investigations must be allowed to take its due course," affirmed Vijin.
The Kerala Students Union (KSU -Congress students’ union) too concurs in this regard.
"KSU has not ended its protests. We will continue till all the accused are arrested. Protests marches will be conducted inside the campus without affecting the conduct of classes. Since exams are nearing, the college can no longer remain shut.
Now that the forensic report has proved our claims to be true, we can confidently go ahead with our protests," KSU leader Midhun Mohan told TNM.
Though the police have filed cases against five persons including the college Chairman and PRO, all the five have absconded ever since the controversy erupted. Meanwhile, the Kerala High Court granted a five-day interim bail to P Krishnadas, the Chairman and Managing Trustee of the Nehru Group of Institutions.
Jishnu’s family has consistently maintained that the college management had "murdered their son".