Sakthivel, who is the third accused in the death of 18-year-old Jishnu Pranoy, was arrested from Coimbatore on Sundayafternoon, two months after he went into hiding.
The Kerala High Court granted him interim bail on Monday.
Granting him interim bail on condition that he must not visit the college or interfere in any matters related to the functioning of the college, the HC went on to criticize the police for arresting Sakthivel.
"It was not appropriate for the police to arrest him while his anticipatory bail application was pending with the court", the bench observed.
The court had earlier deferred the anticipatory bail application.
The court has also asked the police not to arrest Praveen- another accused in the case- until the court considers his anticipatory bail application.
According to reports, Sakthivel told investigating officers that he did not manhandle Jishnu and that the student must have killed himself due to mental agony after being caught cheating in examination. He also reportedly told the police that Nehru Group Chairman P Krishnadas (who is currently out on bail) met him while he was living under cover and gave him legal advice.
It was late on Sunday night that Jishnu's family ended their indefinite hunger strike demanding that all the accused be arrested. Jishnu's mother Mahija and uncle Sreejith were on hunger strike at Thiruvananthapuram Medical College, His 15-year-old sister Avishna (also known as Arya) was on a hunger strike at their home in Kozhikode. The family ended the strike hours after Sakthivel was arrested.