5 engg students arrested after ragging complaint

Kolkata: Five students of a premier engineering college in Salt Lake Sector V were arrested on charges of ragging and assaulting a first-year student after he lodged a complaint alleging physical torture, extortion and criminal intimidation at the Electronics Complex Police Station.The arrests were made in connection with a complaint made on June 9. Police said the accused include four first-year students and one senior student of the institution.According to the complaint filed by an 18-year-old first-year BCA student, the alleged assault stemmed from a dispute over Rs 2,500 that he lent to his former roommate.In his complaint, the boy alleged when he asked the youth to return the money on June 9, the latter and several others confronted him inside the college premises.

Around 2 pm, while he went to the washroom, the accused allegedly held him by the collar and pinned him against a wall, police said.The complainant alleged that the group forced him to smoke marijuana and, when he refused, repeatedly slapped him and burned his hand with a weed cigarette. He further claimed that the accused snatched his mobile phone, wallet and keys before assaulting him with a belt.The accused allegedly took Rs 2,700 from his wallet, forced him to unlock his phone and show private conversations with friends, and smashed his iPhone 15 against a wall, damaging it beyond use.Police said they took down the complaint and on the basis of witness accounts, they picked up the five FIR-named youths.