Athira suicide: Police issue lookout notice against Arun Vidyadharan

Kottayam: Police on Wednesday issued a lookout notice against Arun Vidyadharan, who is accused of cyberbullying his ex-girlfriend Athira, which allegedly led to her death by suicide two days ago.

The 26-year-old Athira was found dead on Monday at her home in Manjoor village of Kaduthuruthy, and police have lodged a case in connection with the incident and initiated a probe.

In the notice, Kaduthuruthy police said 32-year-old Arun Vidyadharan was facing charges under IPC 306 (Abetment of suicide) and Section 119 (b) of the Kerala Police Act (punishment for taking photographs or videos or propagating them at any place in a manner affecting the reasonable privacy of women) in the incident.

Providing contact details, the notice urged people to give information about the accused on the given numbers.

Meanwhile, Youth Congress activists laid siege to the Kaduthuruthy police station earlier in the day, alleging that there had been lapses in the investigation with regard to the woman's death.

Charging that the negligence of the police had resulted in Athira's death, as many as 12 Youth Congress activists, led by their district president Chintu Kurian Joy, laid siege to the room of the Station House Officer (SHO) at Kaduthuruthy police station.

The protesters were later forcibly evicted by police personnel. There was also an altercation between them for some time.

The Youth Congress activists later staged a sit-in protest in front of the station.

The protesters charged that the complaint lodged by Athira with the police about the cyber attacks was leaked to the accused. Alleging grave lapses in the investigation, they also said that the police had failed to nab the accused even two days after Athira's death.

Senior Congress leader and former home minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan later said stern action should be taken if any of the police personnel were found to have taken a stand in favour of the accused.

According to the investigators, they received a complaint stating that a woman had ended her life over cyber-bullying by her ex-boyfriend after their relationship soured. The complaint also claimed that besides the cyber attacks, the man also released online personal chats between the two, police said.

Athira was the sister of a sub-collector's wife in Manipur, who said she had been a victim of ''cyber bullying'' and ''online harassment''.

(With PTI inputs)