Five arrested in PM Palem minor girl suicide case

Visakhapatnam: Visakhapatnam police arrested five persons, including college principal and warden in the PM Palem minor girl suicide case here on Tuesday.

It may be recalled, a first year diploma student of Anakapalli district committed suicide by jumping off from the top of a hostel building on Thursday and died on Friday while getting treated in a hospital.

She sent a WhatsApp message to her father revealing alleged sexual harassment of girl students in the college.

Following the complaint filed by her father G Ramana, the police arrested five persons on Tuesday.

According to DCP-1 VN Manikanata, the police launched an inquiry and interacted with students of the campus. The girl students told the police that N Shankara Rao, working as a chemistry lab technician was behaving inappropriately with girls attending the lab.

They also brought to the notice of the police that the lab technician used to hold hands of the students under the guise of checking their nails during the lab session.

Even as the victim did not come for breakfast, lunch, study classes and dinner since morning, neither the warden nor the college principal noticed her absence, the police said.

No steps were taken to trace her. Even though she was not seen since morning, neither the police nor her parents were informed. Considering the negligence in rendering their duty, the police registered a case against them.

Meanwhile, the police found that a room was allotted to the hostel warden on the third floor of the girls’ hostel and her husband was also allowed to stay in it against the rules. The police arrested N Shankara Rao, G Bhanu Praveen, V Usha Rani, Shankar Varma and V Pradeep Kumar involved in the case. There were no injuries on the girl’s dead body, the DCP said that a detailed investigation will be conducted to find out whether it was murder or suicide.