Cop arrested in Andhra Pradesh over minor girl’s death by suicide

A deeper investigation into the incident is ongoing: C Nagarani (Rep)

Visakhapatnam:

Andhra Pradesh police on Tuesday arrested five people in connection with the suicide death of a minor girl student who leveled sexual harassment allegations against her college officials, an official said.

The 17-year-old girl jumped to her death from a building on the night of March 28-29, claiming that some unknown people threatened to post objectionable photos of her on social media.

Police arrested five persons from the Kommadi Chaitanya Polytechnic in the port city. Those arrested include: chemistry laboratory technician N Shankar Rao, college administration head Shankar Varma, principal G Bhanu Praveen, hostel administrator V Usha Rani and Rani’s husband V Pradeep Kumar.

Visakhapatnam North Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) B Sunil told PTI that preliminary investigation revealed that Rao was the person who allegedly sexually harassed the murdered student.

Sunil said, “Shankar Rao did not confess, but during our investigation, all the girls pointed the finger at him. The girl’s close friends also said the same. He will be questioned further.”

The arrested persons were booked under Sections 305, 354 A, 354 C, 506 of the IPC, Section 12 of the POCSO Act and other sections of the Prohibition of Obscenity Act.

The ACP noted that the five arrested will appear before a judge on Wednesday.

Earlier, Andhra Pradesh Technical Education Director C Nagarani said she had formed a committee to look into the incident and a report was awaited.

“A deeper investigation into the incident is on and a few people are being summoned to the police station every day,” C Nagarani told PTI.

According to C Nagarani, five of the student’s seven teachers were women and the remaining two were men, including the principal of the college and an engineering drawing teacher.

Additionally, she said the lab assistant was also being interviewed by police.

Police interviewed the college’s administrators, the student’s friends, roommates, parents, frequent contacts and suspects to find out the truth. The ACP noted, however, that the girl was not raped.

He said the final autopsy report was awaited.

In addition, officials noted that the student at the private university was a little unusual and were considering an investigation into her mental state.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)