Robbery attempt behind IIT Palakkad student attack, police say

The attack on a female student on the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Palakkad campus in February was a planned robbery attempt that failed after the victim raised an alarm, the police said citing the confession of the accused.

The accused, Suman, a native of Kolkata, allegedly admitted during custodial interrogation that he had targetted the student with the intention of stealing her jewellery. The disclosure came after investigators took him into custody from judicial remand.

According to the police, Suman had been hiding in the shrubs on the campus on the night of February 23, waiting to rob female students on their way to the dining hall.

Armed with a wooden log used for construction work on the campus, he allegedly targeted Ashwini, 23, a fourth-year Data Science and Engineering student from Salem, Tamil Nadu, after noticing that she was walking alone behind a group of fellow students.

The police said he struck the student on the head, knocking her to the ground, and attempted to snatch her jewellery. However, her cries for help alerted nearby students, forcing him to abandon the robbery and flee.

Investigators said the accused initially took refuge at a camp housing migrant workers engaged in construction work on the campus before fleeing to Kolkata to evade arrest. The student sustained injuries to her head and chest in the attack.

Following a months-long investigation, police tracked down and arrested Suman in West Bengal. Police reconstructed the crime scene by taking Suman to the IIT Palakkad campus and the nearby workers’ camp.