Kottayam: Gandhi Nagar police here submitted a chargesheet on Friday in the Kottayam Government Nursing College ragging case at the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court-I in Ettumanoor. Police confirmed that the court accepted the chargesheet after examining it. Five students have been booked in connection with the case.

According to the police, the chargesheet includes statements from 40 witnesses and 32 documents. Visual evidence of the brutal ragging, which is considered crucial in the case, has also been submitted to the court. The chargesheet notes that the accused committed the crime for the sheer pleasure of inflicting torture.

The accused are second-year general nursing students Samuel Johnson (20) and Jeeva NS (19), along with third-year students Rahul Raj KP (22), Rijiljith C (21), and Vivek NV (21).

The police said that the accused celebrated and rejoiced as they recorded videos of the ragging and the victims writhing in pain. The video recording of the ragging by the accused, who are also regular drug users, was the crucial evidence in the case, police added.

The probe team added that more evidence about ragging was recovered from the mobile phones of the accused.

As per the chargesheet, the hostel and college authorities were not aware of the ragging. It also said that the accused had been harassing the victims since November last year and used to constantly take money from them for buying alcohol.

Police registered the case on February 11 after receiving a complaint from some junior students.

According to the complaint filed by three first-year students, the accused stripped them and placed dumbbells on their private parts. They also injured the complainants using a compass and poured Fevicol on their wounds. The ragging reportedly took place at the men’s hostel.

Additionally, the five-member gang allegedly extorted ₹800 from the juniors to purchase liquor and cover personal expenses. They also forced the juniors to consume alcohol and recorded videos of them as a means of blackmail, ensuring that they did not report the incident.

The junior students decided to file a police complaint after one of them was brutally beaten by the gang on Monday for refusing to pay money. When the assaulted student informed his parents about the incident, they advised him to approach the police.

As the ragging case made headlines, the Kerala Nurses and Midwives Council (KNMC) decided to bar all five accused from continuing their studies. The National Human Rights Commission has also registered a case over the horrific incident that unfolded on a Kerala campus.