Richard Loitam was a fun-loving and football crazy boy who was beaten to death mercilessly on April 18. Today, I have a series of questions. First, what has the administration/police done till now? The cops booked a case of unnatural death although the warden had categorically said Richard was beaten by two of his hostel mates. What prompted the police to change the case from unnatural death to murder? Did they need pressure to change the nature of the case or did they realise it late?
The police are trying to say that the death may have been caused by a minor accident that Richard had on April 15. Is it possible for a person with such fatal injuries to go on doing his normal chores for two days? Is this reasonable? Why were the college authorities not booked for criminal negligence? What was the warden doing at that time of the night – watching IPL? It’s a convention for wardens to check the rooms at night to make sure all the students are in their rooms. Doesn’t Acharya college follow this? Even if not written in the book of law, I think this is the first time a person booked under 302 has not been taken into police custody.
My opinion is that both the culprits as well as the college authorities should have been booked and taken into custody long back but till today they have not been. Why?
Also, why was the crime scene not sealed? And why did the forensic team visit it only after 10 days? What was the objective of moving the body from the crime scene without informing the police?
These are a few questions which need to be answered. The last question is does anyone besides people from the North-East know all the state capitals of the seven north-eastern states? The answer to all my questions lies here.
— The writer is Richard’s uncle and a teacher at TADC, Government of Manipur