Days after a first-year student was found dead in his hostel room in Chinnasalem, Kallakurichi district, Tamil Nadu, E Manoj Kumar, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), Tirukoilur, has been assigned the case, as stated in a report by The New Indian Express. 

The deceased student has been identified as P Abith Kumar (19) who hailed from Omangalam near Virudachalam. He was pursuing his academics at a private engineering college located in Chinnasalem.

The police informed that on Friday morning, August 18, Abith returned to his room after attending classes. When his friends proceeded towards the room, they found that it was locked from the inside. They knocked but in return, received no response. Upon informing the college authorities, the room's door was broken open and the student was found dead, the police informed. 

The police arrived and the body was sent to the government hospital in Kallakurichi for a postmortem examination. Kallakurichi's Superintendent of Police (SP) Mohanraj carried out preliminary inquiries and conducted an inspection of the area. 

Parents and relatives of the deceased raised suspicions over the circumstances of the student's death and refused to take the body. They even staged a blockage at the hospital's entrance on Saturday, and after conversing with police, agreed to claim the body. 

On Sunday, August 20, after DSP Manoj Kumar took over the case, inquiries were conducted with the college's faculty, students, and staff and the student's family members as well. They are awaiting the autopsy report, the police shared.