Mangaluru, Mar 20: Three staff of Moodbidri based Alva’s Education Foundation have been arrested by the police for allegedly thrashing several II Pre University students after dragging them from their hostel rooms.
The arrested have been identified as Rajesh, Nagesh and Khader K who are working as wardens and student welfare officers at the hostel located in Pushpagiri and managed by the educational institution founded by educationist Mohan Alva.
The arrests were made on Monday, a day after II PU student Prajwal Jagatap, who was one of the victims of the assault, lodged a complaint with local police.
The alleged assault took place on Saturday night after some students celebrated the end of exams by bursting firecrackers between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. on the hostel premises.
In his complaint, Jagatap said Rajesh and Nagesh, the wardens and some student welfare officers and administrative staff arrived at the hostel in an inebriated state at about 10.30 p.m., with sticks in their hands.
“They switched off the CCTV cameras and dragged around 50 students out of their rooms and began thrashing them with sticks and kicking them with their boots. Some students were selectively targeted and the attack went on till 2 a.m. Even parents, who were in their children’s rooms, were verbally abused,” the complainant said. The complaint has been signed by 54 students. The hostel houses about 700 students, all from PU science stream.
The police have registered a case under Section 324 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 504 (insult intended to provoke breach of peace) of the IPC.
Some students reportedly retaliated by damaging furniture in the hostel’s reception area and wardens’ restroom on Sunday. Anguished parents of students arrived at the hostel and took their children home. They accused the chairman of the institution of not giving them a patient hearing when they asked about Saturday’s incident.
Mohan Alva said that three staff members have been suspended pending inquiry by a three-member committee. He said the management has taken serious note of it and action would be taken against the guilty. He arefuted allegations that the accused staff had switched off the CCTV before the assault.
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