Old News: Student held for Hyderabad double murder

The Hindu
Sunday, Aug 06, 2006
Staff Reporter

The accused, a first-year hotel management student, allegedly stabbed two of his seniors while being ragged



NEW DELHI: A student of Indian Institute of Hotel Management in Hyderabad who allegedly killed two of his seniors while being ragged on July 31 has been arrested by the Crime Branch of the Delhi police.

According to the police, Naveen Kumar Sirohiwal, a resident of Rohini, was arrested at New Delhi railway station on Friday.

During interrogation, he allegedly confessed to having killed his two seniors, Sanjoy Cherian and Sanjay Giri.

The police said Naveen, a first year student of IIHM-Hyderabad, had enrolled at the Institute through an all-India examination conducted by Pusa Institute in the Capital.

Naveen, along with his father Matadin Sirohiwal who is manager in the R.K. Puram branch of Canara Bank, had gone to Hyderabad in mid-July. He had got accommodation at Tapaswi Hostel of the Institute. The new session began on July 25.

On July 31 evening, Naveen along with another classmate from Assam went to a nearby market to buy books. A group of seniors -- Mayank, Himanshu, Nitish and Nimesh -- happened to spot them there. They took them to their rented accommodation in Vidya Nagar.

Two other seniors, Sanjoy Cherian and Sanjay Giri, both third year students, joined them a little later.

The seniors allegedly asked Naveen and his classmate to remove their clothes and ordered him to stand in a bending position as if sitting on a chair.

After some time, a tired Naveen fell down. The seniors then allegedly beat him up for "not obeying their orders".

One of the seniors then brought a kitchen knife and put it beneath Naveen's haunches to keep him in the "sitting" position, the police said. A few minutes later, Naveen lost his cool.

He picked up the same knife and then allegedly attacked Sanjoy and Sanjay.

Fearing that Naveen may attack them too, all the seniors fled from the spot. Sanjoy, son of a marketing executive in Delhi, and Sanjay, son of a former Army personnel from Meerut in Uttar Pradesh, were later declared brought dead in a nearby hospital.

Following the incident, Naveen rushed back to his hostel, packed his luggage and left for Nagpur by road in the night. He reached Nagpur the next morning from where he boarded Delhi-bound G.T. Express around 10-30 a.m.

He reached New Delhi railway station on Wednesday and checked-in at the passenger's waiting room. He had been staying there since.

According to an earlier version, the seniors had spotted the freshers consuming beer in a local market.

When they objected, Naveen allegedly got angry.

As per his version, he along with a couple of juniors barged into their room and argued with Sanjoy and Sanjay. He then allegedly picked up a knife and attacked them.