DHARMAPURI: The Adhiyamankottai police have arrested 17 college students, including three minors, for beating up a 22-year-old tribal student and accusing him of stealing earphones. The police are on the lookout for two others.
The students were booked under the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. The three minors were produced before the Juvenile Justice Board.
The arrests follow a complaint by V Thiruvarasan of Tirupattur and a BSc Mathematics student at the Dharmapuri Arts and Science College. In the complaint filed in late hours of Thursday, Thiruvarasan alleged 19 hostel mates of beating him up and accusing him of theft the previous night. The police said “Thiruvarasan had been working in a bakery near Adhiyamankottai to fund his education. He returned to his hostel room late at night on Wednesday from his workplace. As soon as he arrived the hostel inmates claimed he had filched earphones,” police said.
“While Thiruvarasan denied the allegation, the hostel inmates, including his roommates, contended Thiruvarasan had stolen their belongings,” police added.
This led to arguments and soon others started beating Thiruvarasan and verbally abusing him. Thiruvarasan sustained injuries all across his body, police said.