Mumbai: A 17-year-old student of a city college who had consumed poison last week allegedly because she was being harassed by a youth died in the Sion Hospital Sunday morning.
The Matunga police said after questioning her parents and friends it had come to light that she was being harassed by a 23-year-old youth for the last few months because of which she had committed suicide. The youth has been booked on the basis of the victim’s parents’ and friends’ statements.
The youth has been identified as Illairaja Velpandi who lives near the SIWS College in Wadala, but studies in another college. The police said that according to friends of the girl, identified as Thravi Mutthu, she had got acquainted with Illairaja through common friends in the college. Illairaja then started visiting the college regularly just to meet her and this had upset Thravi, said the police.
“Illairaja had also proposed Thravi but she had rejected him, which had enraged him. Whenever he found her alone, he would touch her inappropriately. He would also ask their common friends to plead his case with Thravi. The friends would then try to convince Thravi to commit to Illairaja. A few weeks ago, Illairaja had snatched her gold chain, which had frightened the girl. So she didn’t tell her parents about the chain. When she asked him to return it, he told her he was going through a financial crisis and was unable to give it back,” said a police official from the Matunga police station.
On December 10, Illiaraja once again sought Thravi and forcefully took her to a corner of the college. “It is still unclear if she drank the poison herself or he forced her. It was Illairaja who admitted her in the Sion Hospital and informed her family. At the time of the incident, only Illairaja was present.
He has given a statement that he saw her drinking something and when she collapsed he ran towards her and took her in the hospital,” said a police official from the Matunga station. Senior PI Matunga police B. Kakad said, “A case under Section 306 (abetment of suicide) of the IPC has been registered against Illairaja and we have arrested him. We are investigating if he fed her the poison or she drank it herself.
The family of the girl has alleged that the only reason the girl had to take such an extreme step was that the accused and his two friends who are studying in her class were continuously harassing her in college. We have interrogated her college friends and will come to a conclusion soon.”
