Kasaragod: Man accused of cyber-bullying ex-girlfriend, ‘abetting’ her death by suicide, found dead in lodge

PTI, May 4, 2023, 2:33 PM IST

A man accused of cyber-bullying his former girlfriend, which allegedly led to her death by suicide early this week, was on Thursday found dead in a lodge in Kanhangad area of this northern Kerala district, police said.

A senior police officer of the district said that the man appeared to have died by suicide, having hanged himself, but it can be confirmed only after the inquest and post-mortem examination.

While the body appeared to be of the accused, 32-year-old Arun Vidyadharan, his family has been contacted to come and identify the deceased, police said.

An officer from Hosdurg police station said the man had checked into the lodge on May 2, the day after his girlfriend committed suicide allegedly over his cyber-bullying.

On Thursday morning, when he did not open the door to his room, the lodge staff broke in. On finding him dead, they called the police, the officer said.

Vidyadharan was facing charges under IPC 306 (abetment of suicide) and Section 119 (b) of the Kerala Police Act (punishment for taking photographs or videos or propagating them at any place in a manner affecting the reasonable privacy of women).

Kerala police had on Wednesday issued a lookout notice seeking details of his whereabouts as he was unreachable on his phone and untraceable, after his ex-girlfriend, Athira, died by suicide.

The 26-year-old Athira was found dead on Monday at her home in Manjoor village of Kaduthuruthy in Kottayam district of the state.

On Wednesday, Youth Congress activists had laid siege to the Kaduthuruthy police station alleging that there had been lapses in the investigation with regard to the woman’s death and that police negligence led to her death by suicide.

According to the police, they received a complaint stating that a woman had ended her life over cyber-bullying by her ex-boyfriend after their relationship soured.

The complaint also claimed that besides the cyber attacks, the man had also released online personal chats between the two, police said.

Athira’s brother-in-law, a sub-collector in Manipur, had claimed that she was a victim of ”cyber bullying” and ”online harassment”.