CCTV visuals showed the students’ car being chased by the police van. After around five kilometers of the chase, the car in which Farhas traveled was caught in an accident, leading it to overturn
KOCHI: Three police officers were transferred pending a probe on Wednesday in connection with the death of a Class 12 student in a car accident in the Kasaragod district of Kerala.
The officers transferred were identified as Sub-Inspector Rajith and civil police officers (CPOs) Deepu T and Renjith.
The incident took place on August 25 within the Kumbla police station limits. Muhammad Farhas, a 17-year-old Class 12 student of Government Higher Secondary School, Angadimukal, was chatting with his friends inside a stationary car on the roadside near the school where Onam celebrations were underway. At that point, a police van arrived and halted in front of the car. While an officer from the van came near the students’ car, the latter reportedly panicked and started to drive away. In that process, the car reportedly scraped the side of the police van, local media reports said.
CCTV visuals later showed the students’ car being chased by the police van. After around five kilometers of the chase, the car in which Farhas traveled was caught in an accident, leading it to overturn. While others sustained superficial injuries, Farhas had severe spinal injuries and was admitted first to a hospital in Kumbla and later in Mangaluru for advanced treatment. On Tuesday, Farhas succumbed to injuries.
On the basis of the deceased’s mother’s complaint, a police probe has been ordered to look into alleged lapses by the cops in the incident and whether the chase by the police van led to the accident in which Farhas died.
“In this inquiry report, if the lapse on the part of the police is proved, there will be action. Let the inquiry report come and everything will be clear,” said Vaibhav Saxena, district police chief.
At the same time, the victim’s family was not happy with the police probe.
“We are not satisfied with the police probe. There should be a magisterial investigation,” a family member of the deceased student told a local TV channel.
Workers of the Youth Congress and the Muslim Youth League, the youth wing of IUML, took out marches Tuesday to the Kumbla police station to protest against alleged police highhandedness.