Bangalore:
Two students have been booked for the murder of Bangalore student Richard Loitam. However, no arrests have been made yet as the police are still waiting for the forensic report. According to the police, the two students, Vishal Banerjee and Sayed Afzal Ali, had an altercation with Richard and had been interrogated by the police earlier.
The police had earlier registered a case of an unnatural death, but after several protests in Bangalore and New Delhi, a case of murder has been booked.
Richard, a second-semester student of the Acharya NRV School of Architecture in Bangalore North, was found dead in his hostel bed on the afternoon of April 18. Friends and family of the 19-year-old student alleged that he was brutally assaulted by his seniors the night before he died. On the night of April 17, Richard reportedly quarrelled with Vishal and Sayed, who allegedly hit the Manipur student on the face and head.
Following the altercation, Richard returned to his room and was found dead the next day.
According to the First Information Report (FIR) filed with the Madanayakanahalli police by Richard's hostel warden S Sudhakar, the student met with an accident on April 16 and was subsequently treated at Sapthagiri Hospital.
However, with the post-mortem report being inconclusive, police had been looking for more leads. They said they were waiting for the report from the Forensic Science Laboratory.