Mangaluru : The “ragging” incident at Srinivas College of Pharmacy took a new turn on Saturday with four female students (among nine complainants) denying any such incident in their statement to the police.

A group of nine students (four girls and five boys) had made a complaint to the college principal on September 3 stating that 23 students had ragged them. On the same day, the principal had lodged a complaint with the police. Subsequently, the police had booked 23 students under IPC Section 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman), 341 (punishment for wrongful restraint), 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation) and 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt) and Section 116 of Karnataka Education Act.

A student from the college was arrested in Kerala on Friday in connection with the incident. However, the whole episode took a new turn on Saturday when four complainants (all girls) met DCP (Law and Order) and stated that the ragging they complained of, had never taken place. They also claimed that they lodged the complaint following pressure from the principal and two lecturers.

The police are now verifying the veracity of the statement of these four students. Since the matter is already pending before the court, these students will have to appear before the magistrate to give their statements.