Kerala: Two sports trainees found hanging in hostel, probe launched
Kollam (Kerala) (PTI): Two teenage girl athletes, both trainees staying at a SAI hostel, were found dead in one of their rooms on Thursday in an apparent suicide pact, the police said.
The deceased were identified as Sandra A (18) of Chaliyam in Kozhikode district and Vyshnavi V(15) of Muthakkal in Thiruvananthapuram district.
According to police, Sandra was an athletics trainee studying in Plus Two, while Vyshnavi was a kabaddi player and a Class 10 student.
The incident came to light around 5 am when fellow hostel inmates noticed that the duo had not reported for the morning training session.
When repeated knocks on the door went unanswered, hostel authorities broke open the door and found both girls hanging from ceiling fans in the room, police said.
Police said Vyshnavi was staying in a different room but had spent Wednesday night in Sandra’s room. Both were seen by other hostel inmates before 12.30 am, police added.
An FIR was registered based on the complaint of SAI centre in charge, police said.
Vaishavi was found hanging from a ceiling fan near the door of the room no 21 at top floor using a bedsheet, the FIR said.
It also stated that Sandra was found hanging from another ceiling fan in the same room, also using a bedsheet.
Police officials said the preliminary probe indicates suicide, and the investigation is continuing to ascertain the reasons behind it.
Though police initially denied the existence of any suicide note, they later confirmed receiving letters from both deceased persons. An officer said the letters mentioned personal issues and were addressed to their parents.
A case has been registered at the Kollam East police station under Section 194 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) for unnatural death.
"The reason for such an act is yet to be ascertained. We are conducting a probe into the incident," Kollam City Police Commissioner Kiran Narayanan told PTI.
Police officials said the body of Vyshnavi was handed over to her relatives after the post-mortem examination in the evening. The post-mortem examination of Sandra will be conducted on Friday, police added.
Both had been staying at the SAI hostel for the past two years, they said.
Sports Authority of India authorities said that a case has been registered.
"SAI is cooperating in the investigation. Investigation is underway," police said.
Police will record statements from other sportspersons in the hostel, their trainers, relatives, schoolmates, and school teachers, an official said.
Also, mobile phones would be examined as part of the investigation.
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Dileep case: Advocate representing survivor alleges Judge favoured actor
Thiruvanthapuram: A month after Malayalam film Actor Dileep was acquitted in the the case pertaining to abduction and rape of a famous Malayalam actress, Advocate T B Mini, the survivor's counsel in the case has accussed the Ernakulam Principal Sessions Court Judge Honey M Varghese of favouring Actor Dileep in her petition to the Chief Justice of the Kerala High Court, reported On Manorama.
In her petition(accessed by Onmanorama), Mini has sought contempt of court proceedings against Honey Varghese alleging that the trial court judge made derisive remarks about her, including claims that she would doze off during court proceedings and was lax in handling the actress assault case.
Mini, who described the comments as false, contemptuous and defamatory, alleged in her petition that Honey Varghese had unduly favoured Dileep, the actor and producer who was the eighth accused in the case.
In the verdict delivered in December last year, Judge Honey Varghese acquitted Dileep and three other accused while sentencing six convicts to imprisonment.
The ruling drew major uproar, while Mini had refrained from making any public remarks against the judge at the time, stating only that the verdict was disappointing, now she has levelled serious allegations against the judge as the High Court is set to begin hearing the bail pleas filed by the six convicts on February 4.
Furthermore, Mini has stated in her petition that since the very first stage of the trial, the Judge Honey Varghese passed derogatory remarks against the survivor and behaved discourteously towards the prosecution, which eventually led to the resignation of two Special Public Prosecutors. According to Mini, the undue favour shown by Honey Varghese to Dileep resulted in a serious miscarriage of justice and brought disrepute to the judicial system.
She stated in the petition that it was a regular practice of Honey Varghese to pass derogatory comments about the survivor as well as the prosecution witnesses.
Mini also alleged that on several occasions, the Special Public Prosecutor was compelled to remind the judge that such conduct was in violation of the Supreme Court’s directions.
Mini also questioned the manner in which Honey Varghese conducted the inquiry into the illegal access of the memory card containing visuals of the sexual assault.
The memory card, a vital piece of evidence kept in the custody of the Sessions Court, was unlawfully accessed and tampered with, leading to a change in its hash value.
According to the report, an examination by the State Forensic Science Laboratory found that the card had been accessed on January 9, 2018, December 13, 2018, and July 19, 2021, while it was under the safe custody of different courts.
Mini stated in the petition that the memory card was illegally accessed for nearly half an hour in July 2021 while it was in the custody of the court presided over by Honey Varghese.
After the survivor approached the High Court citing a breach of privacy, the HC directed Honey Varghese to conduct an inquiry. Mini alleged that the judge carried out only a perfunctory inquiry, in violation of the High Court’s directions.
Mini has sought legal action against Honey Varghese, stating that when a lawyer is defamed in open court through false allegations, the judge is liable to face proceedings before the High Court. She noted in the petition that although she had a very limited role in the trial as the survivor’s counsel, she regularly attended the proceedings from November 2022 onward.
