While a police investigation into the death of Manipuri student, Richard Loitam has come up with no conclusive findings, his parents suspect he was locked in his room and beaten to death. Speaking to Deccan Chronicle exclusively from Imphal, Manipur, Richard’s father Dr. Rajesh Loitam said, “When my wife and I saw his hostel room at the Acharya Institute of Engineering, we noticed that the window panes and door knobs were broken.”
“We strongly suspect my son was locked up in his room and beaten to death,” he said. “His head could have been bashed against the grills on the window and he may have been thrashed. Being a doctor, I was present during the post-mortem, and saw a cut on Richard’s forehead. If he had a brain haemorrhage after the accident as the police initially said he did, doctors would have stitched the wound when they were treating him, but there were no stitches on his head.”
Dr Loitam believes his son received the probably fatal blow to his head when he was pushed against the bars on the window. “The broken door knobs suggest that he tried to escape but was pulled back and beaten. The initial post-mortem report said that he had lung congestion. I suspect he was strangled and was not allowed to breathe. The doctors who conducted the post-mortem initially said the body was brought to the hospital in a half decomposed state,” he added.
Describing his son as quiet and reserved, he said Richard had told his mother on the morning of April 17 that he did not want to continue staying in the hostel. “Richard wanted her to come to Bengaluru before he moved out,” he recalled. Both Dr Loitam and his wife, Dr Vidyabati Devi, met the Chief Minister of Manipur on Thursday and pushed for an independent probe into their son’s death. “The Chief Minister has promised to call an all party meeting to discuss the issue,” they said.