A third-year civil engineering student of the Karur Engineering College was brutally murdered on Tuesday inside a classroom by her senior in college.

A third-year civil engineering student of the Karur Engineering College was brutally murdered on Tuesday inside a classroom by her senior in college whose advances she reportedly spurned.

The victim, K. Sonali (22) of Manamadurai in Sivaganga district, was savagely attacked with a wooden log by P. Udayakumar (22), a fourth-year student, who had stopped attending classes since the beginning of the academic year.

The accused hails from Vengalur, near Paramakudi in Ramanathapuram district.

The attack took place even while the class was on. The assailant attacked the girl on her head indiscriminately, leaving her classmates dazed. Udayakumar also attacked Sathish Kumar (24), assistant professor, who tried to intervene, before fleeing the scene of crime. Terrified fellow students ran for safety.

Sonali was rushed to a private hospital in Karur and later referred to Madurai, where she died.

Mr. Sathish Kumar, who sustained injuries on his hand, was admitted to another private hospital in Karur.

Udayakumar, a former student who dropped out due to poor attendance, was later picked up by the police near the college campus. The murder weapon was seized by the police from the scene of crime.

‘Suspected to be drunk’

“The accused is suspected to have been in an inebriated condition when he committed the crime. Both of them had pursued B.E. (Civil Engineering) and he was senior to her by one year,” a senior police official said.

Karur Town police have registered a case under Section 302 against the accused.

Preliminary investigations revealed that Udayakumar had proposed to her and Sonali had spurned him, police sources said.

He had contacted her over mobile phone on several occasions but she had not responded.

Apparently angered over her refusal to talk to him, Udayakumar had attacked her.

Sonali’s father had died recently and she was supported by her mother working in Chennai. Her relatives, who assembled in large numbers at the hospital in Madurai, complained that the principal and representatives of the college management went incommunicado soon after the incident.

“The college principal and the other management committee members were not taking our phone calls. They even refused to attend the calls made by the police officials,” alleged Sonali’s uncle, K. Rajesh Khanna.

Mr. Rajesh said the college authorities informed Sonali’s grandparents in Parthibanur that she had fallen sick.

“When I called the college staff, they maintained the same. However, when I insisted that I wanted talk to her, they revealed that she was attacked inside the classroom. Was it not the responsibility of the college management to provide basic security to its students, especially girls,” he asked.