It’s been two days since the parents and relatives of Jishnu Pranoy, the Nehru College student who was found dead in his hostel room under mysterious circumstance, staged a protest outside the DGP office demanding that those accused in their son’s death be nabbed. The Kerala police, however, are yet to trace and nab two accused - MK Sakthivel, the Vice Principal of Nehru College of Engineering and CP Praveen, PRO of the same college, who are both absconding.
On Thursday, the Kerala police formed a Special Investigation Team to nab the two accused, who are yet to be booked in the case. The police also announced a reward for those providing information about the accused. "We have begun the investigation and have collected information from various people. I can’t say whether we have made any headway yet," said ADGP Crime Branch Nitin Agarwal, who is leading the iSIT.
Meanwhile, Jishnu's relatives alleged that that there has been pressure from the deputy superintendent of the Government Medical College Hospital Thiruvananthapuram to discharge them. Jishnu’s mother Mahija was taken to the hospital after she and other relatives were forcibly dragged during their protest outside the DGP office on Wednesday.
Sheela, Mahija’s friend told The News Minute that deputy superintendent Dr Santhosh Kumar suggested discharging Mahija and her brother Sreejith on Thursday evening as the scan revealed no injuries. “Mahija’s has been complaining about body pain and fatigue. She has been fasting since Thursday and has not been able to stand. We informed the doctor that we won’t agree to her discharge. The doctor suggested that we shift Mahija to a room from the general ward, which is also not acceptable for us,” Sheela said.
She also said that a hospital official complained about Mahija’s presence is causing trouble to other patients as there were numerous people and mediapersons visiting Jishnu’s mother. The hospital has, however, issued a statement saying that Mahija and her brother will not be discharged from hospital until their health condition becomes stable. The statement also rejected reports that there has been pressure to discharge them from the hospital. "Health department officials have directed us to provide better treatment for them. Mahija sought treatment for body pain and no injuries were found in the scan report. She has been cooperating with the treatment and taking liquid food as per the request of the superintendent," the statement said.
Jishnu’s family have been on an indefinite fast since Thursday and are firm on their stand that they won’t back down from their protest until all accused in their son’s death are arrest. "We trusted the DGP and postponed the protest that we had planned for March 26. He spoke to us for an hour at Kerala House in New Delhi, following which we postponed the protest planned in March. He asked us to wait for a week and we waited for nine days. But we were then forced to organise the march to his office," Jishnu's uncle Sreejith said.
When asked if they were not worried about Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan choosing not to visit them at the hospital, Sreejith said they have no issues about it. "We all are CPI(M) supporters. Jishnu was a huge fan of Pinarayi. We don't want to damage the image of CPI(M). All the problems are caused by the police and we want action against them,", he added. Jishnu’s family has also been demanding that action be taken against two police officers - Assistant Commissioner KE Baiju and SI Sunil Kumar, who allegedly assaulted them during the protest.