The Class XI student’s parents at Peelamedu police station
Police identified the deceased student as A Akilan, 16, son of Ashok Kumar and Kousalya Devi.
In her complaint to police, Kousalya said a few months ago her son’s class teacher, while enrolling Scheduled Caste students for a scholarship scheme, asked who all in the class ate beef. Deputy commissioner of police Thangadurai said an inquiry is underway at the police commissioner level. The Peelamedu police have registered a case against class teacher Vijayakumar , headmaster Arun Kumar , and two students of Shri K K Naidu Higher Secondary School on Avinashi Road near Peelamedu in Coimbatore on charges of abetment of suicide and other offences. Kumar works as a laundry manager at a resort in Munnar; Kousalya is a domestic help. She informed police, who shifted the body to ESI Govt Medical College Hospital for postmortem. Till Thursday night, the body was not handed over to the family as the postmortem was not conducted. The Child Welfare Committee is also inquiring.
Returning home from work around 1pm on Wednesday, Kousalya found her son hanging from the bedroom ceiling. Parents and relatives of Akilan protested in front of the police station on Wednesday evening demanding a proper investigation and the arrest of the teacher and the headmaster.
Police registered a case under sections 115(2), 108 of BNS and 3(2)(v) of The Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and began an investigation.