At least 10 more students of Jadavpur University - present and former - apart from the three who have been arrested were on the spot inside the main hostel from where a first-year student fell to his death, police said on Monday.
The police are interrogating some of them and looking for the remaining who could be connected to the death of the 17-year-old last Wednesday night.
“Around 12-13 students were involved. Their presence inside the building on Wednesday night has been established. We are in touch with some of them but a few of them are incommunicado,” a senior officer said.
The police suspect that the student’s death could
be the consequence of force to either write a letter or put a signature on an already written letter.
Sources said the police have seized a “grey and white” diary from a room in the hostel in which they found a purported letter to the “Dean of Students” on page number 151.
“The diary has 332 pages out of which page 151 had the purported letter while on page 199, several purported signatures of the 17-year-old deceased were found,” a police investigator said.
The police suspect that the letter was written by one of the three men who have been arrested in this case. “We are waiting for the report of the handwriting expert. We have collected handwriting samples of both - the victim and the suspect, who is one of the three and is in our custody,” the officer added.
According to statements of some of the students to the police, the 17-year-old was seen running from one room to another.
“There is a possibility that he was under tremendous pressure mounted upon him by a group of students and ex-students. One of them (a student who has been examined) said the victim was running naked and was there was an attempt to stop him. But as he was running bare body which was slippery with sweat. This student could not get hold of him. These statements are subject to verification,” said the officer.
On Monday, around 10-12 first-year students who have been shifted from the main hostel to the New Boy’s
Hostel, were called to Jadavpur police station for their statements.
Sources in the police said though a total of 25 students had been shifted to the new boys’ hostel, many were not available as they had left for their homes over the weekend.
On slapping sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, Calcutta police commissioner Vineet Goyal said: “The matter is being investigated. Every step will be taken in accordance with the law.”
Fresh case
The police on Monday said a separate case had been initiated against unknown persons who had shut the gate of the Jadavpur University hostel campus on Wednesday night and allegedly stopped the police from entering the campus after they reached there receiving information about a student’s death.
A team of officers that was stopped at the gate had followed a taxi that had come out of the campus carrying the victim to a nearby private hospital.