Swapnadeep Kundu, 18, a first-year undergraduate student at Jadavpur University is suspected to have jumped to his death late on Wednesday, around two hours after he told his mother that he was feeling “very scared” and pleaded with her to take him home.
Swapnadeep was in room number 68 on the second floor of the A-2 block of Jadavpur University Main Hostel on Prince Gulam Hussain Shah Road. He was found profusely bleeding and taken to the KPC Medical College and Hospital, where he died a few hours later.
The closed gates of Jadavpur University Main Hostel on Thursday morning Picture by Gautam Bose
Police sources said circumstantial evidence suggests Swapnadeep jumped from the balcony of the second floor.
A relative alleged ragging. The police said they have started an unnatural death case. Four students were detained on Thursday for questioning.
Swapnadeep, who came from Nadia district to study Bengali, had been staying at the hostel since Monday, the day first-year undergraduate classes at JU started.
Swapnadeep’s maternal uncle, Arup Kundu, told The Telegraph: “He called his mother around 9.30pm (on Wednesday) to inform her that he was very scared and told my sister to take him back home. Swapnadeep told his mother he had a lot to share. An hour later, my sister called on his number, but the call went unanswered. A few hours later, we received a call from a JU official, who informed us that Swapnadeep had jumped from the balcony. He told us to come over immediately.”
Grave allegations have emerged about how a section of JU officials had reacted to initial reports of problems in the hostel.
Police said a student had alerted the dean of students, Rajat Ray, about a situation in the hostel around 10pm on Wednesday.
When this newspaper contacted him, Ray said: “I received a call from a student at 10.05pm. He said, ‘Sir, a student is being politicised. Some groups are trying to convince him not to stay in the hostel. That if he wants to stay in the hostel he will have to jump from the second and third floor’.”
Ray added: “I clearly told him, first, ‘why are you telling this at night?’ Second, ‘there is a hostel super (superintendent) on your campus, have you informed him’? He said ‘no’. I told him to inform the super. After that, I called the super myself.... The super made his own enquiry and found there was no such thing. He did not report it to me immediately. Later, he told me that there was no such thing.”
The Telegraph tried to contact hostel superintendent Tapan Jana, but the calls went unanswered.
The police said they will speak to officials involved in the hostel administration to verify the complaint and the steps they took thereafter.
In a letter addressed to the university’s registrar, Snehamanju Basu, Swapnadeep’s uncle Arup Kundu wrote about his nephew’s last conversation with his mother: “Ma amar bhishon bhoy korchhe. Amake ese niye jao tomar sathe. Amar anek katha achhe (Mother, I am feeling very scared. Please come and take me with you. I have a lot to share).”
Arup said he suspected his nephew was ragged.
“No suicide note was found on the boy. The doctors asked us to sign a paper that stated that there were injury marks on his body. It must be a case of ragging. Or else, how it all happened? He attended classes over the past three days (classes started on August 7) and was happy. That’s what he told his father. He was yet to be allotted a room in the hostel, so he was staying in someone else’s room. I want a probe so that no other family suffers like us,” Arup said.
The police said they have learnt from a preliminary inquiry and after speaking to students that Swapnadeep was very tense and was heard repeating words that suggested someone had tried to question his sexual orientation.
“We have spoken to a third-year student of civil engineering who lives on the third floor. He said he had gone down to the second floor after hearing some commotion and Swapnadeep ran past him. He tried to stop Swapnadeep but failed. According to the students, Swapnadeep was panic-stricken and went to the toilet again and again. So, he was wearing only a towel,” said joint commissioner (crime) Sankha Shubhra Chakrabarty.
Swapnadeep was found bleeding on the ground in front of the hostel moments later.
Officer Chakrabarty cautioned: “What we found during the preliminary examination of other students is subject to verification and needs investigation.”
Swapnadeep was sharing the room with four others. As he was yet to be allotted a room, he was staying as the “guest” of a second-year student of the economics department, the police said.
The preliminary post-mortem report said Swapnadeep died because of a “fall from height”. He had fractured his pelvis, a left rib and the left portion of his skull, the police said.
In the letter to the registrar, the family demanded strict punishment if someone is found responsible for the death. The registrar wrote to the officer in charge of Jadavpur police station later, seeking “necessary action”.
Pro-vice-chancellor Amitabha Datta has constituted a nine-member panel to inquire into the death of the student. Asked whether the committee will look into the complaints of ragging, Datta said: “The committee will do whatever it deems necessary.”
The dean of science will head the committee.
The death of the student left hundreds of other first-year students in a state of shock. So much so that teachers of several departments had to address them and counsel them.
The head of the Bengali department, Joydeep Ghosh, who accompanied uncle Arup to the hospital, said: “We want a time-bound probe so that Swapnadeep gets justice. The investigators must not sit on the complaint.”
A section of students protested in front of Aurobindo Bhavan, the university’s administrative headquarters, demanding that “the culture of ragging” be brought to an end.
The JU authorities put up fresh anti-ragging posters across the campus. The Jadavpur University Teachers’ Association said they suspected the death to be a case of ragging and demanded the first-year students be put up in a wing where seniors will not be allotted rooms.
Apart from his parents, Swapnadeep is survived by a younger brother who will appear for his Class X board exams next year.
Governor visit
Governor C.V. Ananda Bose, chancellor of Jadavpur University, went to the JU Main Hostel on Thursday evening and then to the university campus. He said steps would be taken against those who were responsible for the death of the student.