Three students of a private engineering college at Vallanadu in the Tuticorin district of Tamil Nadu hacked their principal to death on Thursday on the college campus.
The principal, Dr L R D Suresh (53) of Infant Jesus College of Engineering and Technology, sustained serious injuries and was rushed to Government Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
The police arrested the students, who managed to flee the campus, with the help of local people.
Investigation revealed that Suresh suspended P Pichaikannan, a fourth year student of aeronautical engineering of Nazareth town in Tuticorin district, a few days ago on charges of violent acts in various places.
The police said Pichaikannan, along with his friends M Prabakaran (21), a third year BE Civil Engineering student, and G Dannis (22), a fourth year B Tech student, indiscriminately attacked Suresh with sharp edged weapons as he walked towards his room in the morning.
Faculty and students of the college took him to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead. Later the body was sent for post-mortem.
"Humiliation over suspension was the motive behind the murder. Since Dannis and Prabakaran were friends of Pichaikannan, they also got involved in the crime", said an investigating officer.
In the wake of the incident, the college had been closed for a week.
This is the second such incident of student(s) killing their teacher in Tamil Nadu in the recent past.
Last year, a class 9 student of St Mary’s school, an institution in Chennai, stabbed to death his Hindi teacher Uma Maheswari for complaining to his parents about his poor academic performance.