COIMBATORE: The family of a 19-year-old college student, after hours of discussions with the city police and verification of CCTV footage, accepted the police’s findings that she died of health issues.
The deceased, M Tharnika, a first-year B.Sc student at Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) from Villupuram district, was found unconscious in the hostel toilet on Friday afternoon.
According to police sources, the housekeeping staff noticed that water had been continuously flowing from the tap in one of the hostel toilets, but the toilet remained locked from inside. With the help of students,
Housekeeping staff broke open the toilet door around 12.30 pm on Friday. Tharnika, who had gone to the toilet around 6.45 am, was found unconscious. She was rushed to a private hospital and later shifted to the Coimbatore Medical College and Hospital, where the doctors declared her dead on arrival.
On Saturday morning, the girl’s parents, relatives and members of the VCK held discussions with the police and university authorities and examined CCTV camera footage.
A police officer investigating the case said, “The girl had taken three days’ leave in May and returned to her native after complaining of low blood pressure. During the inquiry, we found that her parents allegedly did not take her for further medical evaluation. Her uncle was aware of her condition but she was not taken to hospital.”
“An investigation with her hostel mates and friends revealed that she had spoken about her health issues and had often complained of feeling dizzy while going to the bathroom,” the officer added.
The officer further said that after verifying the CCTV footage and interacting with students, the parents and VCK members accepted the findings and agreed to the postmortem.
Meanwhile, BJP Mahila Morcha national president Vanathi Srinivasan alleged that the TNAU authorities and the girl’s parents had given contradictory statements.