KOTTAYAM: A MONTH after an accident during the hammer-throw competition at the 63rd state junior athletic meet claimed the life of 16-year-old Apheel Johnson, police on Monday recorded the arrest of three of the four accused.
The arrested are referee of the throw events Muhammad Kasim, judge T D Martin and signal official K V Joseph. They appeared before the probe team at 2pm. After recording their statement, they were later released on a station bail. Another signal official P Narayanan Kutty will be arrested soon, the police said. All the four persons were charged with IPC section 304A (causing death by negligence), which is a bailable offence.
According to a senior police officer, the investigation clearly pointed to lapses on part of the arrested officials in organising more than one throwing event simultaneously. “Experts say the accident could have been averted had any one of them been careful,” said an officer on the probe team.
The police are now awaiting the results of a scientific examination of the iron ball involved in the accident from the Forensic Science Laboratory in Thiruvananthapuram.
“The investigation is nearly complete and we are awaiting the scientific evidence for preparing the chargesheet,” the official added.
Apheel was fatally injured on October 4 when the iron ball used in the hammer throw event hit his head while he was volunteering for the javelin throw event. After battling for life for 17 days at the Government Medical College Hospital (MCH), Apheel succumbed to injuries on October 21.
The investigation by a three-member expert team, appointed by the state government too had found fault with the simultaneous conduct of the throwing events at the meet and held the officials responsible for Apheel’s death.
