Amuthan murder: 14 students arrested in six days

The police have arrested a total of 14 students for alleged involvement in the murder of K. Amuthan (19) of Kallakurichi, a third-year undergraduate student of a private engineering college at Othakalmandapam near Coimbatore, on August 10.

The police have also submitted a report before the jurisdictional court intimating that they are also investigating offence under Section 3(2)(V) of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act as Amuthan, a student of Hindusthan College of Engineering and Technology, belonged to a Scheduled Caste community. This Section was not included in the First Information Report registered by the Chettipalayam police soon after the murder.

According to the police, the 14 accused arrested in the case as on Sunday (August 16) are a 17-year-old student from Tiruvallur district, B. Aramudhan (20) of Panruti in Cuddalore district, M. Aravind (21) of Manamadurai in Sivagangai district, S. Siva Rohith (20) of Needamangalam in Tiruvarur district, Mani Balu (20) of Kunnam in Perambalur district, M. Santhosh (19) of Manamadurai, K. Sriram (21) and Lalith Aditya (20) of Othakadai in Madurai district, Harish Pandian (20) of Thirunagar in Madurai, B. Sachin (19) of Royappanpatti in Theni district, B. Pradeep (20) of Srivilliputhur in Virudhunagar district, A. Gowtham (19) of Ariyankuppam in Puducherry, Tharun Kumar (20) of Natrampalli in Tirupattur district and P. Thirumoorthy (20) alias Dines of Srirangam in Tiruchi district.

The police said except Harish Pandian, Lalith Aditya and Pradeep, all others are students of the same college where Amuthan studied, majority of them in their final year.

The police are conducting a separate investigation into the assault on some of the above students and their friends, retaliation of which reportedly resulted in Amuthan’s murder. According to the police, a group of students, including Amuthan, Udhyakumar, Karuna and Munish, trespassed into their accommodation at Poonga Nagar near Othakalmandapam around 5.30 a.m. on August 10. They allegedly used cricket bat, stump and knife for the assault and took away a mobile phone of one student, namely Deepak. Amuthan was assaulted by the 14 arrested accused and a few others in retaliation a few hours later, around 8.30 a.m. He succumbed to the injuries in the afternoon.

The police have arrested two accused, namely Udhayakuma and Haridas, in the assault-cum-extortion case, said an officer.