The Thalassery Principal District Sessions Court on Monday ordered the release of M.K. Ram, the first accused in the abetment of suicide case related to the death of first-year BDS student R.L. Nithin Raj of Kannur Dental College, Anjarakandy, after finding procedural lapses in his arrest. However, the Crime Branch reportedly re-arrested him immediately after he left the court premises.
Dr. Ram, former head of the Department of Dental Anatomy at the college, had been produced before the District Sessions Court after being arrested by the Crime Branch. The court declined to remand him in judicial custody and ordered his release.
Defense counsel B. Latheef told The Hindu that the court found that the investigating agency had failed to communicate the grounds of arrest to the accused as required under the Supreme Court guidelines.
“As per the Supreme Court guidelines, the ground of arrest must be communicated to the accused as per Article 22. We raised this issue before the court. The court held that he could not be remanded to jail without complying with that requirement and ordered his release,” Mr. Latheef said.
Earlier, Crime Branch SP K.V. Venugopal confirmed that Dr. Ram had been arrested from Perumbadi in Kodagu, Karnataka, on Sunday after remaining absconding for several weeks following the rejection of his anticipatory bail plea by the Supreme Court.
He was brought to Kannur on Sunday night, and the arrest was formally recorded at 9.30 a.m. on Monday after he was taken to the Crime Branch office. He was later produced in court.
SC rejects appeal
Dr. Ram had been evading arrest since the High Court dismissed his anticipatory bail on June 19. The Supreme Court rejected his appeal on July 13, following which a Crime Branch team led by Inspector Sreejith Koderi intensified the search. Investigators had earlier tracked him to Chittoor in Andhra Pradesh by monitoring his phone calls and messages, but he allegedly escaped before the team reached him.
Police sources said Dr. Ram had allegedly received assistance from his brother, a local political leader, while in hiding. He was eventually traced and arrested while travelling with a family member in Coorg.
The second accused, Sangeetha Nambiar, was earlier granted anticipatory bail by the district court. She was subsequently arrested and released on bail in accordance with the court’s directive.
Nithin Raj, son of Y. Rajan and C.R. Latha of Thiruvananthapuram, was found dead on April 10 on the college premises. His family had alleged that caste-based harassment by faculty members drove him to take the extreme step, following which a case of abetment to suicide was registered.
Loan app’s role
The Crime Branch is also investigating the role of a Noida-based loan app Instapay. Investigators allege that the app extended a loan to Nithin Raj at an exorbitant interest rate and that recovery agents repeatedly threatened him. Four persons have been arrested in connection with the probe.
The investigation is being carried out by a special investigation team headed by Dy.SP Sudheer Kallan, while Dy.SP Jeevan George is leading the probe into the alleged loan app transactions that are also suspected to have contributed to the student’s death.
