Thiruvananthapuram, April 13 -- Two days after a first-year Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) student was found dead at a private medical college in Kerala's Kannur district, his family on Sunday alleged that he was murdered and that a senior faculty member had repeatedly hurled casteist slurs at him and remarked on his skin colour.

While his family members claim he was pushed off the third floor of the six-storey college building, Chakkarakkal police, which has registered a case of unnatural death, said the preliminary findings point to suicide.

The first-year BDS student, a native of Nedumangad in Thiruvananthapuram district belonging to a Scheduled Caste (SC) community, was found dead at the Kannur Medical College building in Anjarakk...