Seven engineering students, studying in a private college here, have been arrested for murdering one of their junior and severely injuring his friend in a suspected case of ragging, police said.
All those arrested are from Kerala and into their third year of college.
Police said the students of Gnanamani Engineering College had yesterday asked their juniors to fetch them drinking water from a tank which they refused, following which they were threatened with dire consequences.
After college hours, the duo left for home on a motorbike. As the two students neared a junction, they were intercepted by the seven students in a car and attacked with iron rods. One of the junior students died on the spot and the other suffered head injuries, police said.
The students sped away in the car, but local people alerted the police, who nabbed them at nearby Omalur. All of them were booked under IPC Section 147 (punishment for rioting) 148 (rioting armed with deadly weapon), 302 (punishment for murder) and 307 (attempt to murder).
