Thrissur police, probing the Kaipamangalam crash on the NH stretch which killed 8 Tamil Nadu students, are looking into reports about an altercation between students and residents at Thalikkulam on the day of the accident. The distance between Thalikkulam and Kaipamangalam is around 16 km. Kodungallur DySP Ratheesh Kumar R, who heads the eight-member special investigation team formed to probe the case, told Onmanorama that the reported scuffle at Thalikkulam is under investigation.
“As per the initial reports, they got into a verbal tussle with a few people at a hotel at Thalikkulam. Police were alerted, and when the team of cops reached, they left the place,” said Ratheesh Kumar. A team will also leave for Dindigul as part of the probe.
According to police, the college authorities and the families of the students were not aware of the details of the trip. When the police rang up the families to inform them of the accident, many of them had no knowledge about where the students had planned to visit. The police plan to collect details from families and college authorities, as well as from the rental car firm from which the students took the car on rent, which was involved in the accident.
Vadanapally police officials said that they have got in touch with Kaipamangalam police as part of the probe. “It is true that we received a call about a scuffle at a hotel at Thalikkulam on Friday night. Our patrol team, which was attending a drowning incident, also rushed to the spot. However, they had left. We need to confirm if it was the same people who later died in the accident on the NH stretch. We are coordinating with Kaipamangalam police,” Vadanappally police officials told Onmanorama.
It is also learnt that the students had been to a popular hang-out spot, ‘Snehatheeram’ beach, in the panchayat on the day of the accident. Some of the family members have told police that the students were headed to Kodungallur, while others have reported a plan to visit Kochi. The police team is also awaiting the report from the chemical examination lab to confirm the presence of alcohol in the blood samples of accident victims.
The forensic report submitted to the police has noted that a spirituous odour was detected in the bodies during autopsy, indicating the presence of alcohol. DySP Ratheesh Kumar said that police are also going through CCTV footage to reconstruct the track of the students and to determine places where they may have halted before reaching Kaipamangalam.
