Kochi: Despite the Supreme Court making the anti-ragging laws stringent, the investigation into the ragging case in which two Malayali engineering students were brutally tortured and thrown out of a running train at Erode is caught in the doldrums. It was seven months ago that engineering students Geevarghese John and Arun Raj were ragged by their eight college seniors, but not a single arrest has been made till date.
According to the police, the case is dragging along as the investigating team is caught up in the legal imbroglios. “A petition was filed before the Kerala High Court by the second accused, Tintu Abraham, for quashing the FIR lodged with the Mulanthuruthy police. A similar petition was filed before the Madras High Court and the police is waiting for the court order for initiating a probe. The Kerala High Court had dismissed the petition but the order from the Madras High Court is yet to come,” a police official said.
An official of the investigation team said that no move has been initiated to track the absconding students. “In connection with the case, two FIRs have been registered in two different states. The first FIR was registered with the Erode railway police and the second with the Mulanthuruthy police. Since the first FIR was registered at Erode, the FIR registered at the Mulanthuruthy police station will not be valid. Hence, the relatives of the accused persons have challenged the FIR registered here. We have approached the Tamil Nadu police for transferring the case registered at the Erode police station. But it is said to be a timeconsuming process. The investigation will start once the court cases are resolved,” the official said.
Investigating officer and Assistant Commissioner of Police, Ammose Mammen, said that a submission has been made before the Madras High Court that the accused and witnesses were engineering students from Kerala. Hence, the case has to be investigated by the Kerala police, he said. “We are waiting for the decision of the Madras High Court to begin the investigation. If it is not favourable, we will approach the Supreme Court. The state government is firm in its stand that case should be investigated by the Kerala police,” he added.
The incident occurred on January 13 when Geevarghese and Arun, fourth semester students of Salem Gnanamani Engineering College, were brutally attacked by the seniors. The gang demanded money, ATM cards and the contact numbers of the female classmates of the victims. Upon objecting to the demands, the gang attacked the duo using iron rods and shoved them out of the moving train before the Erode railway station.
Geevarghese suffered deep wounds and had 50 stitches all over his body. The accused are Akhil Babu of Oachira, Kiran Nair of Parassala, Ebin Babu of Malappuram and Tintu Abraham of Uzhavoor. Four other unidentified persons are yet to be traced.
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