Police on Friday registered an extortion case against an online loan app for allegedly harassing a first-year BDS student, Nithin Raj R L, whose death has triggered multiple investigations.
According to officials, the app used intimidation tactics to recover a loan disbursed to the student. The case was filed at Chakkarakkallu police station based on a complaint from the cyber cell on April 16, nearly a week after the incident.
The FIR invokes section 308 (extortion) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, along with relevant provisions of the Kerala Money Lenders Act and the Kerala Prohibition of Charging Exorbitant Interest Act.
Police said the app had sanctioned a loan of Rs 15,000 to Raj in January at an interest rate of 36 per cent, allegedly in violation of legal norms.
From April 9 onwards, the operators of the app reportedly made repeated calls to recover the amount and subjected him to mental harassment and intimidation.
The extortion charges come alongside allegations against faculty members of the dental college, who are accused of harassing the student over his caste and complexion.
Raj (22), a first-year BDS student at a private dental college in Anjarakandy, was found critically injured after falling from a building on April 10. He later succumbed to his injuries.
Earlier, police had registered a case against two faculty members, Dental Anatomy Department Head Dr M K Ram and Associate Professor K T Dr Sangeetha Nambiar, for abetment of suicide and under provisions of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
Amid student protests, the college management dismissed Ram on Thursday.
Meanwhile, multiple bodies, including the Kerala SC/ST Commission, Kerala State Human Rights Commission, Kerala State Youth Commission, Kerala University of Health Sciences, and the Medical Education Department, have launched separate inquiries into the incident.
The two faculty members named in the police case remain untraced, officials said.
(With inputs from PTI)