Hackers take on private engineering college after student suicide

Jayadevan PK January 16, 2017

Soon after threatening the management of a Kerala-based engineering college, where a student killed himself earlier this month, hackers have taken down the college website.

A group of hackers claiming to be part of the hacker collective Anonymous has released a video on YouTube asking Nehru College of Engineering and Research Centre, Thrissur, to sack its employees. ,

The YouTube video said:

“Stop your harassment against students. We are coming to hunt down your dirty education business. From now on, no safe place for you on the internet… If you are working in Nehru Institutions, resign immediately. Otherwise you will also be listed in our targets.”

A group of hackers claiming to be part of the hacker collective Anonymous has released a video on YouTube asking Nehru College of Engineering and Research Centre, Thrissur, to sack its employees  

The college website is currently down. Hacktivism is slowly becoming mainstream in India. Recently, a hacker group called Legion, attacked journalists, politicians and top businessmen. (Read: Exclusive: Interview with hacker group Legion)

On January 6, Jishnu Pranoy, a first-year computer science student of the college, had committed suicide. According to the local authorities cited in media reports, the student was caught cheating in an exam and was subsequently reprimanded by college officials. Another version of the story is that he was harassed by college officials right from the time he entered the exam hall.

Following Pranoy’s death, the college had suspended three employees, including vice-principal N K Sakthivel, as part of an ongoing inquiry.

College officials told The Hindu that they were cooperating with the police investigation, but were not immediately available for comment.

Last week, the hashtag JusticeForJishnu was trending in Kerala. It has also become a big political issue in the state, with many students decrying alleged harassment at privately funded colleges.

Video: Anonymous hackers threaten Nehru Group of Institutions