3 arrested in Arunachal student attack case

Three people have been arrested in the alleged attack on a student from Arunachal Pradesh which later led to his death even as Delhi Police constituted a Special Investigation Team to probe the incident. 

Teams of Delhi Police also fanned out to Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab in the hunt for three more persons suspected to have been involved in the attack on 19-year-old Nido Tania by some shopkeepers in Lajpat Nagar locality last Wednesday.

According to the police, the SIT has been constituted under the direct supervision of Deputy Commissioner of Police (South-East) P Karunakaran.

"We have identified six persons, out of whom two are juveniles, three accused have already been arrested in the case," said a senior police official.

The three arrested men were identified as Farman (22), Sunder (27) and Pawan (27), Police said.

In a statement released on Monday evening, police claimed that Tania was not left on the spot by the two police officers after bringing him back from police station and that he was not assaulted a second time by the shopkeepers, as alleged by some of his relatives and friends.

"During investigation and videographic analysis, it has emerged that Nido Tania was brought by PCR van to the police station from where he was taken for inquiry to the spot by two police officers but he was not assaulted again there.

"He was brought back to the police station by both the police officers and later handed over to a friend of the family Vinod R Bansal and his friend Varun with whom he left the police station," the statement said.

Relatives of Tania, who was a BA first year student at a private university, alleged he had an altercation with the shopkeepers last Wednesday after they made fun of his hairstyle, following which they allegedly thrashed him. He was brought dead in AIIMS the next day.

"In view of the gravity of the matter, a Medical Board for forensic examination was constituted in AIIMS whose final report is awaited to finalize the investigation," the statement said.

A senior police official said the final post-mortem report from the Medical Board of doctors of AIIMS is awaited. This final report will also take toxicology report from CFSL/CBI into consideration.

A case under section 302 (murder) IPC and 3 of SC/ST Act was registered in this regard, police said.