he statements of Arumugam, the “trainer” arrested for the death of 19-year-old Lokeshwari during a mock disaster management drill at Tamil Nadu’s government school, have led to the arrest of three more men.
Arumugam, Ashok and Damodar have been taken into custody.
Arumugar has said that Ashok was responsible for making fake National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) identity cards.
Police said, Arumugam has conducted over 1200 camps, charging a fee of Rs 50 per student for the training.
Three others — Sathise , Govindaraj and Vinita — have been identified as imposters using fake authority cards to conduct training drills.
Speaking on the matter, Minister of Revenue and Disaster Management RB Udhayakumar said, “We have a system in place but the college did not follow rules. They engaged a private trainer [for mock disaster management drill]. He has been arrested. To ensure such incidents do not take place in future we have instructed district collectors and commissioner of revenue administration to oversee training programmes in private colleges with due precautions. The death of the girl is due to negligence.”
As of now five people apart from Arumugam have been taken into custody. Further investigation is underway.
