The State government is awaiting a response from the Centre on handing over the case of the death of first-year B Tech student Jishnu Pranoy to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
A senior government functionary told The Hindu that the Home Department had written to the Centre citing the need for a CBI probe into the incident that rocked the State socially and politically for several months. Jishnu was found hanging in a hostel of the Nehru College of Engineering and Research Centre at Pambady in Thrissur in January.
Last month, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, after a meeting with Jishnu’s father K.P. Ashokan, had announced that the government was open to a CBI probe and that he had informed the State police Chief (SPC) of this. This apart, Mr. Ashokan had earlier also given a memorandum to former SPC T.P. Senkumar seeking a CBI probe into Jishnu’s death.
The development comes close on the heels of Mr. Senkumar’s statement in an interview to a Malayalam TV channel that the suicide note purportedly written by Jishnu did not match his handwriting.
Mahija’s allegation
Following this, Jishnu’s mother Mahija had alleged that the suicide letter was planted by a Deputy Superintendent of Police. Mr. Ashokan had demanded an comprehensive inquiry into the allegations.
A special police team probing the case had recovered the letter from the sewer near the bathroom in the hostel.
Incidentally, the police took about 40 days to file an FIR against the authorities under Section 306 (abetment of suicide) of the Indian Penal Code.
In a related development, the State government has moved the Supreme Court against the Kerala High Court granting bail to all the accused. A hearing on the review petition is also coming up on July 10 after the Supreme Court had rejected the petition by the government seeking to cancel the anticipatory bail granted to Mr. Krishna Das.
