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Jadavpur varsity death: Letter in victim’s diary forged by senior, say police
Purportedly signed by the victim and addressed to the dean of students, the letter brought allegations against a senior student whose name the victim never mentioned to his parents, it has emerged.
KOLKATA: Police investigation into the death of the first-year student in Kolkata’s Jadavpur University has revealed that a letter found in the victim’s diary and purportedly signed by him was in reality written by a senior student allegedly to divert the probe.
Addressed to the dean of students, the letter brought allegations against a senior student Rudra Chatterjee (referred to as Rudra da in the letter) whose name the victim never mentioned to his parents, it has emerged.
“It was written by Dipsekhar Dutta, a second-year-student of economics, who is now is custody. He was present in the room when the victim was being ragged along with a few other senior and former students,” an officer said.
The letter was dated August 10 while the victim had jumped from the hostel balcony on the night of August 9 and died in the early hours of August 10 in a hospital. The victim’s father has already told the police that the handwriting in the letter doesn’t match with his son’s.
“It seems that the letter was written to divert the police probe. Also, some of the statements given by a section of the hostelites during questioning seem to be tutored. Investigation is going on,” said an officer.
The first-year undergraduate student of Bengali honours, a resident of Nadia district, jumped off the second-floor balcony of the main hostel building around 11.45 pm on Wednesday and died while undergoing treatment at a hospital at 3.40 am on Thursday. The victim was found lying naked in a pool of blood below the hostel.
Investigators have come to know that hours after the incident, a section of the hostel residents held a meeting inside the same hostel to allegedly decide on the narrative they would construct and tell everyone including the student’s family, media and the police.
“The meeting was held after midnight in the hostel when the victim was battling for his life in the hospital. While some students rushed the victim to the hospital, a section of the hostel inmates held a meeting in the hostel,” said a professor who asked not to be named.
Police have so far arrested three persons including a former student Sourav Choudhury and two second year students, Dipsekhar Dutta and Monotosh Ghosh. All three have been sent to police custody until August 22. Police have registered a murder case.
Also Read: Two varsity students held over Jadavpur death: Cops
Officers also said that after the local police received a call -- about a student falling from the second floor (A2 block) of the main hostel -- and rushed to the spot they were not allowed to enter the hostel.
“...The probe is being supervised by some of the most senior officers of Kolkata police,” Kolkata police commissioner Vineet Goyal had told reporters earlier. “We are trying to complete the investigation as fast as possible.”
Meanwhile, hostel superintendent Tapan Jana told a vernacular media channel that on Wednesday night he went to check after receiving a call from the dean of students Rajat Roy around 10:08 pm about a student facing some problem in the hostel.
“I didn’t go up to the second floor. I went to the ground floor of the hostel. There was no problem. I found nothing (abnormal)” he said in the report.
Jana didn’t respond to calls and WhatsApp messages sent out by HT.
