By IANS,
Tanda (Himachal Pradesh) : A Himachal Pradesh court extended by five days the police custody of two of the four medical students arrested on murder charges following their junior’s death here allegedly due to ragging, the police said Friday.
First-year student Aman Kachru, 19, died Sunday – a few hours after the four senior students assaulted him as part of ragging at the Rajendra Prasad Medical College here, 20 km from the district headquarters town of Kangra.
“The police custody of Ajay Verma and Naveen Verma was extended till March 17,” Kangra superintendent of police Atul Kumar Fulzele told IANS.
Both were arrested the day after Kachru’s death and sent to police custody till March 13.
Two other accused in the case – Abhinav Verma and Mukul Sharma – surrendered to the court March 10. They are already in police custody till March 16.
On the basis of the post-mortem examination report, the police have slapped a case of murder (section 302 of the Indian Penal Code) against the four students. They were earlier accused of culpable homicide not amounting to murder (section 304).
Fulzele said the police had recorded the statements of more than 18 persons, including other college students.
He said the police had also taken the samples of Kachru’s handwriting from the college records, and matched it with his complaint to college authorities about the ragging before his death.
At Kachru’s funeral in Delhi Tuesday, his family members said he had often complained of ragging at his institute but they had never imagined the situation was so serious.
According to his uncle, Kachru and other students had complained about the ragging by the seniors but the college authorities had not taken any action.
Meanwhile, the college management has stepped up security on the campus.
“Security guards have been deployed on the campus. The process to install closed-circuit television cameras in hostels is also on,” said the college’s new principal, Anil Chauhan.
The state government had already ordered a magisterial inquiry into the incident.