VILLUPURAM: A day after three girl students of a private naturopathy and yoga college at Bangaram near Chinna Salem allegedly committed suicide by jumping into a farm well, Revenue officials on Sunday sealed the institution.
Sources claimed that the girls took the extreme step over alleged fleecing and abuse by the college management, while their parents claimed it was not a suicide but murder. They also staged a road roko in front of the Mundiyambakkam Government Hospital, where the bodies were kept, demanding proper investigation.
The protestors also blocked the Tiruchy-Chennai National Highway on Sunday afternoon, demanding that a murder case be registered against the college correspondent Vasugi Subramanian, a native of Chennai, and she be arrested immediately.
Parents of two of the girls also stood firm on their demand to have the post-mortem done in Chennai.
Based on a suicide note, purportedly written by the deceased, the police had on Saturday detained the college correspondent’s son, Swakathvarma (19), for inquiry. Swakathvarma too is a student of the same college. On Sunday evening, Kotiswari, a lecturer and the wardens of the girls’ hostel — Lakshmi and Sumathi — were arrested.
A team has been desptached to Chennai to interrogate Vasugi Subramanian, who is attending on her husband at a hospital there.
The bodies of T Monisha (19), a resident of Ernavur in Chennai, E Saranya (19), from Cheyur in Kancheepuram district, and V Priyanka (19), of Tiruvarur, all second-year Naturopathy students, were found inside a farm well opposite the college on Saturday evening.
‘forced to do household chores’
The deceased students had alleged in their suicide note that the college authorities made them do their household work. They claimed despite shelling out `6 lakh per head, they had not been given proper study environment or facilities. They hoped their deaths would spur officials to act on the issue.