Vellore: The four students of Christian Medical College (CMC) at Vellore who allegedly tortured a monkey to death on campus were suspended on Wednesday by the administration.

The students, identified as Jasper Samuel Sahoo, Rohit Kumar Yenukotti, Arun Loui Sasikumar and Alex Chekalayil from different batches were suspended after the brutal and inhuman act came to light. “The internal committee inquiry found the four students guilty. We are looking at and dealing with it seriously,” said Anna Pulimood, Principal CMC.

The incident came to light when Azar, an animal activist based in Mumbai, got a call from one of the college students, who claimed that a monkey was tortured and killed by medical students on Saturday. The carcass was buried behind the hostel mess. Azar alerted Chennai-based animal activists, who lodged a complaint against four students with the Bagayam police. An FIR has been filed against the students under Section 429 of the IPC and the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972.

An animal Rights activist said, “The post mortem showed that the monkey’s neck, hands and legs were tied up with a phone wire. The animal’s knee, neck and ankle were fractured implying that it was thrashed. The worst cruelty that the animal was subjected to, was that it was impaled with a sharp object from behind and it came out from the front,” he said.

Eye-witnesses stated that the monkey entered the accused students’ hostel room in the afternoon. The students caught it with a blanket. The female monkey must have been just about a year old and hence not very ferocious. They tied up the monkey’s hands, legs and neck. They took it to the hostel terrace, tied it up and thrashed it brutally and also stabbed the monkey’s back with a sharp object.

It may be recalled, a few months ago, a video of a puppy being thrown off a terrace by two medical students became viral on social networking sites. The dog was later rescued nad given medication.