The investigation related to the death of a 17-year-old student in Kallakurichi has been transferred to the CBCID, an announcement to this effect was made by Tamil Nadu DGP Sylendra Babu after the district witnessed massive protests and violence on Sunday. Four days after the student's death, police have arrested three persons, including the correspondent, secretary and the principal of the ECR Sakthi International school.
Earlier on July 17, the father of the student had approached the Madras High Court asking to transfer the case to the CB-CID. The petition filed by Ramalingam, the student's 47-year-old father, stated that it was necessary to conduct a second postmortem examination to “unearth the truth behind the suspicious death”.
The school correspondent Ravikumar, Secretary Shanti and Principal Sivasangaran have been arrested under various sections of the Indian Penal Code. Earlier, a case was registered under section 174(1) of CrPC to investigate the suspicious death of the student.
Tamil Nadu Home Secretary Phanindra Reddy, DGP Sylendra Babu and ADGP Law and Order Thamaraikannan visited Chinnasalem ECR International School premises to take stock of the situation on Sunday.
Meanwhile, post the protests, Tamil Nadu Schools Association President Nandakumar said to TNM that school property worth 5 crores had been destroyed. "We will be shutting down schools for a day as a mark of protest. The School Education Minister has called us for a meeting tomorrow to discuss about this issue. We will attend the meeting and decided next course of action," he said.
The student studying in Kaniyamoor Sakthi Matriculation School at Karimanoor of Chinnasalem was found dead at the hostel premises on the morning of July 13. While the school says that it was a death by suicide, the parents allege that there was foul play. However, days after the family's complaint, no arrests were made by the police. Adding to this was a massive social media campaign seeking justice for the student. Today, July 17, around 3,000 people gathered at Chinnasalem unexpectedly. What had remained a peaceful protest until then, turned violent suddenly. Angry mobs torched school buses and parts of the school building. They also broke past barricades and clashed with the police. There were incidents of stone pelting and police vans were set on fire. Following these altercations, prohibitory orders under section 144 were imposed in parts of the district. A separate case has been registered regarding the protest and around 70 protesters were arrested by the police.