THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Kerala government has appointed a noted criminal advocate, C P Udayabhanu, as the special prosecutor in the sensational Jishnu Pranoy case.
The case relates to the alleged suicide of Jishnu Pranoy, an 18-year-old computer science student at the Nehru College, Pampady, back in January. The Kozhikode native hung himself in his hostel room after an exam invigilator accused him of cheating and threatened to have him struck from the college rolls.
Four people are accused in the case: Nehru College chairman P Krishnadas (A1), vice-principal M K Sakthivel, assistant professor C P Praveen, PRO Sanjith Viswanathan , and invigilator Bipin.
The state government has been under pressure from various quarters, including Jishnu Pranoy’s family, to appoint a special prosecutor in the sensational case.
Currently, the investigation into the death of the first-year computer science student is going on.
Jishnu's family had earlier raised a demand for a special prosecutor. Senior CPM leader and Administrative Reforms Commission chairman V S Achuthanandan wrote to Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan to appoint one.
In a Facebook post announcing the appointment of C P Udayabhanu, chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the government would take sufficient caution in conducting the investigation and taking up further legal steps.
In a related development, the Kerala government appointed a three-member panel to study issues relating to self-financing colleges in the state. Justice K K Dinesan, Professor K K N Kurup and Professor R V G Menon will be in the committee.
The committee will meet Parent Teacher Associations of self-financing colleges, student unions, teachers associations, non-teaching staff unions and college managements and discuss several issues.