The police have registered the arrest of Youth Congress Vazhathope mandalam president Nikhil Paily, 29, and Idukki mandalam vice president Jerin Jojo, 22, in connection with the murder of Dheeraj Rajendran, Students Federation of India (SFI) activist and a seventh semester BTech student at the Idukki Government Engineering College, Painavu, on Monday.
Dheeraj was stabbed to death and two other students, Thrissur native Abhijith T. Sunil andKollam resident A.S. Amal, were injured in a clash related to college union elections.
Nikhil was held from a bus at Karimanal while trying to escape to Ernakulam on Monday evening. The police said Nikhil confessed to committing the crime and that he threw away the weapon used for it. A search will be held to find the weapon.
Six persons were included as accused in the first information report and the police will also look whether they received outside support in committing the crime. Nikhil told the police that he reached the campus to help his relative who was contesting the college union elections. He said he kept a knife with him in self-defence.
The police said a tense situation developed after outsiders reached the college campus, which SFI workers, including Dheeraj,questioned, leading to the clash.The primary autopsy report cited a deep wound in the chest as reason for Dheeraj’s death. There were injury marks in his body in addition to a head injury.The body of Dheeraj was taken to his native placeTaliparamba after autopsy at Government Medical College Hospital at Cheruthoni in the morning. The body was received by SFI and Communist Party of India (Marxist) leaders.
Former Minister and CPI(M) leader M.M. Mani covered the body with the party flag. A large number of students and local people paid their last respects to the body kept at the hospital and the engineering college.
