Engineering student murdered by former roommate in hostel

Mysuru, April 18: A 22-year-old youth was done to death, allegedly by his former roommate at a hostel in Saraswatipuram police limits, in the city, on Thursday. The accused, identified as a 17-year-old minor is at large.

The deceased is identified as Mohan Kumar, son of Manikrao Poddar,?a resident of Saraf Bazaar at Muktampura Layout in Kalaburagi city. He was a eighth semester student in Instrumentation Technology at Sri Jayachamarajendra College of Engineering (SJCE) here.

Mohan was busy preparing for his project work in his room at Vishwakarma Students Hostel at?Gangotri Layout, here, in the morning, when he was caught unawares by the attack. The accused, an ITI student, is suspected to have attacked him from behind, slitting his throat with a knife. Mohan who raised an alarm, fell aground, while the boy bolted away from the scene. The hostel personnel, who rushed towards Mohan’s room found him in a pool of blood and rushed him to a hospital. He had died on his way to the hospital, according to police sources.

According to preliminary investigation, the accused may have decided to get rid of Mohan, as most of the hostel was empty. The knife used for the crime has been recovered from the same room.

Both Mohan and the accused were roommates earlier.

Mohan was an engineering student, who was joined by the accused after his admission to the hostel in June last. All was fine till Mohan found that the accused was under corrupt influences, addicted to smoking and drinking habits. Following this, animosity developed between them, that later forced the hostel authorities to shift the accused to another room (number six).

According to hostel secretary?M?G?Devaraj, the accused from Chamarajanagar belongs to a plebian family. His mother works as a daily wager in Tamil Nadu.?He was adamant in nature and had recently gone missing as his mother refused to buy him a smartphone, on March 13. Following a complaint, the police personnel had traced him at Goa. The policemen had advised the hostel authorities against accommodating him. However, owing to his mother’s request, the hostel authorities agreed to keep him again.

According to Mohan’s friend?Jayanth, Mohan preferred to ignore the aggressive behaviour of the accused, who at times had picked up a quarrel with Mohan for prying on him.

Following his (accused) mother’s request, Mohan continued to keep an eye on the accused and was regularly updating the latter’s mother about his movements.

Police Commissioner M?A?Saleem and DCP?(law and order)?Vinayak?Patil visited the spot.