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6 more held over Jadavpur death
All the accused – five current students and four former students – were produced before a city court
Kolkata: Police in Kolkata have arrested six more people in connection with the death of a first-year student of Jadavpur University (JU) last week that has sparked allegations of brutal ragging on campus, taking the total number of arrests in the case to nine, officials said on Wednesday.
All the accused – five current students and four former students – were produced before a city court and remanded in police custody till August 28. Five mobile phones and a laptop were also seized from them, the officials said.
Two varsity officials were also interrogated on Wednesday in connection with the case, the officials added.
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee had earlier spoken to the victim’s family and assured all assistance in the case. Governor CV Ananda Bose held an emergency meeting with varsity authorities at Raj Bhavan on Wednesday.
On August 9, the 18-year-old student from Nadia district was found lying naked in a pool of blood in front of the main hostel building outside the university campus by students at around 11.45pm. Police said the teen allegedly fell from the second-floor balcony of his hostel where he was staying since August 6, after enrolling for the Bengali Honours undergraduate course at the university. His body bore several injury marks and he was rushed to a private hospital where he died at around 4.30am on the following day.
While the deceased’s family alleged he was ragged by his seniors, police said an investigation was underway.
Last week, three people – a former student and two second year students – were arrested. The remaining six – three former and three current students – were arrested on Wednesday.
“During preliminary questioning, we found their (accused) complicity. There were multiple inconsistencies in their statements. Their (those arrested on Wednesday) names cropped up during the interrogation of the three people who were arrested earlier,” a police officer said, seeking anonymity.
The accused were identified as Dipsekhar Dutta and Monotosh Ghosh, second year students of economics and sociology, respectively, Md Arif and Ankan Sarkar, both third year students of civil engineering, and Md Asif Afzal Ansari, a fourth year student of electrical engineering.
The remaining accused – former students who were illegally staying in the hostel – are Asit Sardar, Saptak Kamilya, Sourav Chowdhury and Suman Naskar.
“They (former students) had fled the hostel after the incident and were arrested from their residences,” the officer quoted above said.
Police said JU registrar Snehamanju Basu and a professor, Partha Pratim Roy, were interrogated on Wednesday. The dean of students, Rajat Roy, could not be questioned as he was gheraoed by students at the varsity. The students were demanding justice for the victim and anti-ragging measures in the hostel.
On August 11, police registered a murder case on the basis of a complaint by the deceased’s family that he was a victim of ragging.
The university said it has set up an internal committee to probe the matter. On August 11, it asked all first-year male boarders of the main hostel to temporarily shift to a new facility after a section of students and teachers alleged that former students frequently visited and stayed in the premises and sometimes, even harassed the freshers.
The students held a protest rally on campus on Friday. According to a few current students residing in the hostel, at least 20 former students were living on the premises and were warned by the authorities of strict action if they did not leave.
Police earlier found a letter, purportedly signed by the deceased and addressed to the dean of students, leveling allegations against a senior student, Rudra Chatterjee. A probe later found that the letter was written by Dipsekhar Dutta to divert the probe, police said.
The decision to write the letter was taken by Saptak Kamilya and Sourav Chowdhury.
On Wednesday, governor Bose held an urgent meeting with JU authorities at Raj Bhavan.
While there was no immediate statement from the governor, JU registrar Basu told HT: “The governor (who is the chancellor of the state-run university) listened to our internal problems. He has assured us that the problems would be resolved soon.”
A five-member delegation of the ruling Trinamool Congress, including an MP and three state ministers, met the deceased’s parents at their residence on Wednesday.
The University Grants Commission’s anti-ragging cell and the state human rights commission have sought a report from the varsity and police, respectively.
