The police team that is probing the stampede that led to four deaths during the annual tech festival at Cochin University of Science and Technology (Cusat) on November 25 has charged former principal of School of Engineering Dipak Kumar Sahoo and two teachers under Section 304 A of the Indian Penal Code (causing death by negligence).
The police had earlier registered a case for ‘unnatural death’, under Section 174 of Cr.PC. “This provision was amended and the new section added, based on our probe. More sections could be added while more teachers and students who were members of the committee that organised the event could be brought under the ambit of the probe, if needed,” said police sources.
The case is being probed by a team led by Thrikkakara ACP Baby P.V. The statements of over 100 people have been recorded as part of the probe. The hearing on a detailed report filed by the probe team before the court is expected to come up later this month, it is learnt.
A three-member panel appointed by Cusat to probe the incident had in December fixed the responsibility on the event’s organising committee for its perceived failures, including in crowd control and management.
The ‘flawed’ design of the auditorium and premises too had invited flak in the wake of the accident, with experts blaming a row of steps soon after its entry gate as among the reasons for the stampede.