Jharkhand seeks security for its students in Tamil Nadu

RANCHI - Chief Minister Shibu Soren Wednesday said he will speak to the Tamil Nadu government over the death of two Jharkhand students near Chennai and seek security for all those studying in different colleges in the state.

“We are concerned about the death of our students studying in Annamalai University in Tamil Nadu and I will speak to Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi on the issue,” Soren told reporters in the steel city of Bokaro.

The Annamalai University campus has been tense since Sunday when Gautam Kumar, a resident of Ranchi in Jharkhand, was injured in a road accident and was treated in a hospital in the town.

At the insistence of his classmates, he was being transported here when he developed complications. The vehicle was then taken to Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER) in Puducherry where he died.

The body was brought back to Annamalai Nagar in Chidambaram and a group of students from north India wanted to meet Vice Chancellor M. Ramanathan in connection with Kumar’s death. But Ramanathan said he would meet them at the university campus Monday.

The students then went on a rampage, damaging property. Despite warnings by the police, the students continued their violent protests and police baton-charged the mob, a police official said.

To escape the police batons, students ran in different directions and a few of them fell into a nearby canal.

While the body of Sumit Kumar from Jharkhand was recovered Monday, bodies of two more students from Bihar were fished out of the canal Tuesday, police said.

Soren also announced Rs.1.5 lakh compensation for the family of each student.