Kalpetta: A fresh controversy has erupted over the death of a second-year veterinary science student, after it was found that the son of the Vice-Chancellor's private secretary, too, was included in the list of 33 students, whose suspensions were briefly withdrawn.

JS Sidharthan, a second-year student of the Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, was found dead in the toilet of his hostel on February 18. A post-mortem examination revealed that he was brutally assaulted.

The VC had issued a note to revoke the suspension of first-year students, who were not residing in the hostel. It has been alleged that the private secretary and university Assistant Registrar's son, his friend, and two other fourth-year students' names were included in the list, using the VC's note as a cover.

Their suspensions, too, were withdrawn along with the first-year students. Reportedly, the private secretary had forwarded to the dean the VC's instruction to revoke the suspensions. Though 57 other seniors were included among the 90 suspended students, none of their names were included in the list of students whose suspensions were revoked.

The governor later intervened and set aside the VC's order revoking the suspensions. The students have been suspended till April 4.

It was learnt that though several officials pointed out the illegality of absolving the suspended students based on the private secretary's instruction, political pressure forced the university to accept the directive.

The university law officer's advice was not sought before revoking the suspension. The hostel's assistant warden was reportedly influenced to remove the names of the private secretary's son and his friend's names from the list of students who were present while Sidharthan was brutally ragged.

The VC's private secretary has been holding the responsibility of the university's legal cell. She was responsible for filing to the court the reasons to revoke the suspension of the students.

Meanwhile, private secretary K Sheeba said the order was issued based on the vice-chancellor's instruction. Vice-Chancellor Dr PC Sasendran, who later quit the post, said the two senior students' names were included after the anti-ragging squad stated that they were wrongly included.

Former judge to meet Governor
Thiruvananthapuram: Former High Court judge A Hariprasad will meet Governor Arif Mohammed Khan at the Raj Bhavan on Thursday. Hariprasad was handpicked by the Raj Bhavan to probe Sidharthan's death.

The terms of conditions of the probe would be notified after the former judge meets with the Governor. Though a holiday, the Governor's office would function today, and there is no legal objection to issuing the order.

Hariprasad was selected from a panel of former judges. A former superintendent of police from Wayanad, too, will be part of the probe commission.