Delhi Police on Wednesday registered a First Information Report at Vasant Vihar police station against unknown persons on the charges of abetment to suicide under Section 306 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), section 3(S) of SC/ST Atrocities Prevention Act in the case of the alleged suicide of 29-year-old JNU scholar, J Muthu Krishnan.
Investigation of the case has been marked to Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Mehrauli sub-division Jimmy Chiram. As per the provisions of the SC/ST Atrocities Prevention Act, a case of such nature has to be investigated by a gazette officer.
A senior police officer said that the FIR was registered after the father of the deceased submitted a written complaint that his son was facing caste based harassment from the JNU administration.
Police came to know about the alleged suicide of Muthu Krishnan after it received a call on Police Control Room (PCR) at around 5.05 pm on Monday. Police found that the room was locked from inside and the police had to use force to break open the door. Muthu Krishnan was found hanging from a ceiling fan in his friend’s house in South Delhi’s Munirka Vihar.
“During the preliminary investigation, we found that the latch of the door was uprooted indicating that it was a clear case of suicide,” a senior police official said.
“From the preliminary enquiry, it appears that the deceased has committed suicide,” the official added.
Meanwhile, as per the complainant, Jeevanandam, the pictures of the position of of the body of Muthukrishnan as shown to him by the senior police officers raises serious doubts about the alleged claim of Krishnan committing suicide. In the photographs, it was evident that the deceased was hanging from the ceiling fan with a long piece of cloth, his knees bent and his feet touching the ground. Moreover, in such cases, the tongue was not protruding and his eyelids were not drooping which is normally seen in cases of suicide.
“On reaching Delhi, my son’s friends told me that he was facing caste based harassment and discrimination in his academic pursuits from his center and the JNU administration,” read the FIR.
Muthu Krishnan’s father, Jeevanandam on Tuesday had said that his son cannot commit suicide and had demanded a CBI probe. “My son cannot commit suicide. He was very strong and confident. We want a CBI probe to be conducted and actual reason behind his death be revealed.”
Muthu Krishnan was an
M Phil student at JNU’s Centre for Historical studies and was at the forefront of a students’ movement following Rohith Vemula’s suicide.