The District Crime Branch has started a fresh probe into the suspicious death of a 16-year-old student from Narikkatteri in Nadapuram in the wake of noticing two separate video clips in which the victim was reportedly found undergoing torture by his own elder brother.
The video clippings secured by the squad from social media are now with the cyber forensic team. A Deputy Superintendent of Police who heads the probe has recorded the statement of a few local residents who earlier complained that it was a murder. Though the investigation team recently quizzed the victim’s father, he was found ignorant of the new developments, police sources said.
It was on May 17 last year that the body of K. Abdul Azeez, a student from MIM Higher Secondary School, Perode, was found hanging in his house. The case was then recorded as an unnatural death by the local police under section 174 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC). Though the case was later handed over to the Crime Branch following suspicion that it was a murder, they ruled out the possibility in the absence of any circumstantial evidence.
The case was taken up again by the Crime Branch as a local action committee intensified their protest after seeing the new video clips. They alleged that the victim was throttled by his own brother as reportedly seen in the visuals. Meanwhile, police sources said they would be able to confirm the authenticity of the video after getting the cyber forensic report. The suspected youth would be interrogated, they said.
The death of the boy was a shocker for many in his village and the school as he was preparing for the last three papers of the SSLC examinations. He was one of the bright students in his school with a good academic track record. His teachers and friends had also pointed out that the incident was mysterious and that it should be re-investigated.
