Abetment of suicide case: Main accused Dr Ram arrested in Karnataka
The Crime Branch has arrested Dr M.K. Ram, the first accused in the abetment of suicide case related to the death of first-year BDS student R.L. Nithin Raj of Kannur Dental College, Anjarakandy, Kerala. Dr Ram, a former Head of the Dental Anatomy Department at the college, was taken into custody from Karnataka and brought to Kannur on Sunday night, July 20, 2026.
Crime Branch SP K.V. Venugopal confirmed that Dr Ram had been absconding for weeks after the Supreme Court rejected his anticipatory bail plea on July 13. His anticipatory bail was earlier dismissed by the Kerala High Court on June 19. Following the Supreme Court order, a Crime Branch team led by Inspector Sreejith Koderi tracked him to Karnataka, where he was apprehended.
Investigators had earlier traced Dr Ram to Chittoor in Andhra Pradesh by monitoring his phone calls and messages, but he managed to evade arrest before the team could reach him. The search continued across neighbouring states before he was finally caught in Karnataka. He was produced before the court after completing legal formalities.
The second accused, Dr Sangeeta Nambiar, was earlier granted anticipatory bail by the district court. She was subsequently arrested and released on bail in accordance with the court's order.
Nithin Raj, son of Y. Rajan and C.R. Latha, natives of Thiruvananthapuram, died on April 10. His family alleged that he was subjected to caste-based harassment by college faculty members, leading to the registration of a case for abetment of suicide.
The Crime Branch is also probing the role of the Noida-based loan app Instapay and has arrested four persons in this connection. Investigators allege that the app provided Nithin Raj a loan at an exorbitant interest rate and that recovery agents repeatedly contacted and threatened him.
A special investigation team (SIT) headed by DySP Sudheer Kallan is probing the circumstances surrounding Nithin Raj’s death, while DySP Jeevan George is investigating the alleged loan app transactions that are also suspected to have contributed to the student’s death.
