Kochi: Even as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) which probed the mysterious death of student Jishnu Pranoy in a college hostel in Trichur district has found out that it was a suicide, his mother who had staged a fiery campaign to book his college authorities for murder has decided to approach the Supreme Court yet again -- this time to challenge the exoneration of Nehru Group Chairman P Krishnadas.
Pranoy's mother Mahija has said that she will approach the Supreme Court against the decision to exonerate Mr Krishnadas from the case. This follows Monday's chargesheet submitted by the central probe agency in the Judicial First-Class Magistrate Court here which termed his death as a suicide.
The CBI, however, charged two employees of the Nehru College of Engineering and Research, Pampadi, with abetment of suicide. College vice-principal N Sakthivel and teacher C P Praveen will be in the dock over the sensational case. They have also been booked for forgery and criminal conspiracy.
Four accused, including Krishnadas, who were arraigned in the case by the Crime Branch do not find a mention in the chargesheet. Others who were exonerated are college PRO Sanjith Viswanathan and teachers Pradeepan and Deepan.
The inquiry into the case was handed over to the CBI in January 2018.
Pranoy, a first-year Computer Science student of the private professional college, was found hanging in his hostel room on January 6, 2017 soon after he was allegedly caught committing exam fraud. A day early Pranoy was reportedly taken to the principal office at 3 pm alleging that he had copied in the examinations.
The CBI chargesheet states that vice-principal Sakthivel and teacher Praveen had severely scolded Jisnhu in the room.
The role of the college management was under a cloud from the beginning as it was alleged the high-handedness of top officials drove the teen to suicide. Soon widespread protests ensued across the state demanding the arrest of the college authorities. Pranoy's family strongly demanded the college officials should be charged for murder. Visuals showing Mahija being dragged by the police through the road while she came to the DGP office seeking justice had touched a raw nerve.
As the protests intensified the state government sought a probe by the CBI even as the Crime Branch had indicted five people, including Krishnadas.
CBI relied on evidences which confirmed the findings of the postmortem report that indicated Pranoy had hanged himself. It has come to light that false propaganda that Pranoy had copied during the examinations and the fact that he was forced to give a written statement to teacher Praveen admitting that he had committed malpractices in the examinations led to his suicide.
SC intervention
The Kerala Government had issued a notification on June 15, 2017 handing over the case to the CBI. However, the CBI rejected the demand but had to relent as the Supreme Court considered Mahija's petition. The apex court had remarked that a CBI probe would be effective.
