Family members and hundreds of grieving relatives and friends attended the funeral of Deepak at his hometown Thaliparamba on Friday.vvav
Deepak, 20, was reportedly killed when senior students in a car hit from behind the bike on which he was pillion riding with a friend. The incident is reportedly a result of hazing at the Gnanamani engineering college where Deepak was a fresher.
Police have registered a case against seven senior students identified as David Cherian, Jitin John, Sarath, Bijo and Aswanth, all age 20, and 21-year-olds Danish John and Mithun with charges of conspiracy and murder. The parents of the accused students were present when they were taken by police to be produced in the Rasipuram magistrate court in Tamil Nadu.
Students in the Gnanamani college had staged a protest immediately after Deepak’s death, alleging that the college authorities were trying to play down the incident.
The incident has raised concern among parents in Kerala about their children studying in different colleges in other states, where hazing is rampant.
Deepak’s father Padmanabhan collapsed on seeing his son’s body and had to be admitted to a hospital. Deepak is the only son of Padmanabhan and Sheela. The couple has a daughter, too.
Local media reports indicate that private college managements in some states are offering commissions to students and former students to rope in fresh students to the colleges, and pay as much as Rs25,000 (about N1m) per student brought to the college for studies.
