The investigating team probing the death of IIT Kharagpur student Faizan Ahmed will go to the campus on Saturday with his mother and take custody of his belongings that could be of use in the investigation.
The remaining belongings will be handed to mother Rehana Ahmed, said a senior officer, who is part of the investigation team.
Faizan’s mother Rehana Ahmed and aunt Salma Ahmed were called to Bhabani Bhavan on Friday.
Officers asked them why they thought Faizan was murdered and discussed the process of handing over his belongings to them.
“We have asked his parents to be there on Saturday so they can identify his belongings,” the officer said.
The probe team, led by additional director-general of police (headquarters) K. Jayaraman, asked Rehana more about Faizan’s nature, his mother said.
“They asked me why we thought Faizan was murdered. I told the members of the team that going by the protruded eyes and tongue of Faizan, it seemed he was smothered. I also told the team an email that Faizan had written to the warden of RP Hall (Rajendra Prasad Hall of Residence) in February 2022 suggests some of Faizan’s friends did not like his refusal to participate in a group event that amounts to collective ragging,” Rehana told Metro.
Faizan, the third-year IIT Kharagpur student, was found dead in a hostel room in October last year.
The second post-mortem conducted in Calcutta in late May said the manner of death was homicidal in nature.
The first post-mortem conducted at the Midnapore Medical College and Hospital in October could not conclude how the third-year IIT student died.
The second post-mortem was conducted after the body was exhumed from a burial ground in Assam’s Dibrugarh.
The probe team also spoke to Aniruddha Mitra, one of the lawyers of Faizan’s family, who went to Bhabani Bhavan.
“I apprised the team that we came to know Faizan was allegedly harassed by senior students because he refused to take part in an inter-hall illumination competition, which is usually organised on the occasion of Diwali. He was found dead on the campus on October 14, within a few days of the alleged harassment,” Mitra said.
The three-member special investigation team (SIT), set up by Calcutta High Court to probe the death of Faizan, called his mother eight days after visiting the IIT campus.
Rehana said: “The police and the IIT authorities have only disappointed us. They have not been keen to prove how my son died and under what circumstances. The probe by the SIT is our last hope.”
The new investigating team will submit a progress report to Justice Rahasekhar Mantha of Calcutta High Court on July 12.