The police on Wednesday registered a case against an engineering student in Katpadi in Tamil Nadu’s Vellore district for throwing a puppy off a terrace, killing it on the spot. The case was lodged on the basis of a complaint filed by animal rights activists, The Times of India reported on Thursday.

Shravan Krishnan, an animal welfare worker and the founder of Hotel for Dogs in Chennai, on Facebook said the pup – which was being taken care of by a few students of a private engineering college in Katpadi – had wandered into Vishesh Iyengar’s house. “This person, Vishesh, already had a history of torturing street puppies by placing them at high heights and waiting for them to fall down,” Krishnan wrote, quoting a message he received from the students.

The 21-year-old mechanical engineering student is believed to have killed the puppy on October 24. A First Information report has been filed against Iyengar under the Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act.

Neighbours alleged that Iyengar had killed another puppy a day earlier by throwing it off his terrace. “1 down, 1 more to go,” Krishnan claimed Iyengar had said on a WhatsApp group. “What is even more devastating is that this person has no remorse, no guilt and no shame, and to make it more worse he says, ‘It’s just a dog, I didn’t kill a human.’”

Krishnan told The News Minute that such acts of cruelty were becoming common, and that activists “have been trying to convince colleges that no matter what course they teach, to include animal welfare in their curriculum, to teach these students compassion”.

In July last year, two medical college students were charged for throwing a puppy off a terrace. The pup had managed to survive.