COIMBATORE: Seven engineering students of a private college in Coimbatore were arrested by the Coimbatore City Police and remanded in judicial custody on Wednesday for assaulting a junior student at the college hostel for refusing to give them money to buy liquor. The 19-year-old victim from Tiruppur, a second-year B Tech student, was subjected to physical and mental harassment by third and fourth-year students of PSG College of Technology, police said.
On Monday night, the seniors walked into the college hostel room of the victim and allegedly demanded money to buy booze. As the victim refused to oblige, they dragged him to one of their hostel rooms. They then allegedly stripped him naked and shaved his head using a trimmer. They also abused and assaulted the victim and locked him up till the next morning. The students had also threatened to bash up the victim again if he disclosed the attack to anyone, police sources said.
After returning to his room, the student called up his parents and informed them about the attack. The parents approached the Peelamedu police station on Tuesday evening and complained. Police conducted an investigation and arrested R Santhosh (22) of Madurai, P Naveen alias Yalish (22) of Namakkal, A Mohammed Dilfer Shah (21) of Lakshadweep, G Dharanidharan (20) of Karur, P Ayyappan (20) of Sivagangai, S Manikandan (20) of Ramanathapuram and P Nithyanandharajan (20) of Theni.
They were booked under Sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 324 (voluntarily hurt by the use of a dangerous weapon or means), 342 (punishment for wrongful confinement), 143 (unlawful assembly), 355 (assaults or uses criminal force to any person), and 506(i) (punishment for criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 4 of the Tamil Nadu Ragging Prohibition Act 1997. Further investigation is on.