Thiruvananthapuram, Mar 3 (IANS): Kerala Minister for Animal Husbandry and Dairy Development J. Chinchu Rani on Sunday announced the suspension of Dr. M.K. Narayanan, Dean of Pookode Government Veterinary College.

This comes after the family of Siddharth, the second year BVSC student who died in the campus hostel, alleged that he was tortured to death by the students of the college led by the Students Federation of India (SFI). The college authorities and the Left government has been maintaining that Siddharth died by suicide.

Governor Arif Mohammed Khan, who is the Chancellor of the University, on Saturday suspended Vice Chancellor M.R. Saseendranath.

The post-mortem report of the deceased student has revealed that he was subjected to brutal torture and there were no signs of even the boy drinking a glass of water for 72 hours prior to his death.

The opposition Congress and BJP have alleged that Siddharth was tortured to death by the SFI students with the full support of the College dean.

Dr. Narayanan, while speaking to media persons, said that he was not aware of what had happened to Siddharth and did not know whether the student was beaten up. He said that immediately after he had come to know of the incident, he had rushed to the college hostel and found that the boy had been taken to hospital where he was declared brought dead. The dean also said that he was not responsible for the boy's death as it was not his duty.

However, on Sunday he was finally suspended.

Meanwhile, the suspended Vice Chancellor of the University, Dr Saseendranath told media persons that managing the student hostel was the responsibility of the Dean. He also said that he was not informed of the developments taking place in the college, including the torture of Siddharth.