Bodies of two agitation victims arrive in Patna

PATNA - The bodies of two Bihar students, who were found dead at Tamil Nadu’s Annamalai University during a student agitation, arrived here Thursday and were received by their family members and government officials.

“The bodies of two students — Mohammed Sarfaraz Rab and Ashish Ranjan Kumar — arrived at the Patna airport and were received by their family members. They will be taken to their native place,” a police official told IANS.

Both were studying at Annamalai Engineering College at Chidambaram in Tamil Nadu’s Cuddalore district.

Bihar’s Principal Home Secretary Amir Subhani said the two students jumped into a canal and drowned after being chased by the Tamil Nadu police Monday.

The police, with the help of fire service personnel, later recovered their bodies.

One of the students at the college, Gautam Kumar from Bihar, was involved in a fatal road accident Sunday.

Around 400 students, all from northern India, gathered outside the university’s administrative building and went on a rampage, M. Ramanathan, vice chancellor, Annamalai University said.

He added that some students jumped into the canal after being chased by the police.

Four students, including the two from Bihar, lost their lives. The other two students belonged to Jharkhand.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar called up his Tamil Nadu counterpart M. Karunanidhi and sought protection for those studying at the Annamalai Engineering College.

He also announced a compensation of Rs 1.5 lakh each to the families of the deceased.