Ragging death: Four students expelled from Himachal college

Tanda (Himachal Pradesh), March 12 (IANS) Four medical students, arrested on murder charges following the death of their junior allegedly due to ragging, have been expelled from a medical college in Himachal Pradesh.

'All the four students, who have been booked on murder charge, have been expelled for two years,' the new principal of the college Anil Chauhan told IANS.

The four students are Abhinav Verma, Mukul Sharma, Ajay Verma and Naveen Verma.

First-year student Aman Kachru, 19, died Sunday - a few hours after being ragged late Saturday by the four final-year students of the Rajendra Prasad Medical College here, 20 km from the district headquarters town of Kangra.

'Their expulsion would be reviewed after two years,' he said.

On the basis of the post-mortem examination report, the police have slapped a case of murder (Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code) against the four students. They were earlier accused of culpable homicide (Section 304).

Meanwhile, the college opened with a condolence meeting Thursday morning and address by then college principal Suresh Sankhyan.

'The atmosphere remained grim throughout the day after the tragic incident,' Chauhan said.

Himachal Health Minister Rajeev Bindal described the incident as 'painful and unfortunate'.

'A magisterial inquiry will look into the causes of the death of the student and fix responsibility of the people involved in the incident,' he said.