The special investigation team (SIT) that is probing the death of IIT Kharagpur student Faizan Ahmed has started examining students through video calls to ascertain the circumstances under which the youth was found dead, sources in police said.
Some of the students have been asked to meet the investigating officers at Bhabani Bhavan by the end of this week or early next week, the sources said.
“We did not wait for the vacation to get over and have started talking to students through video calls on WhatsApp. We want to meet some of the students in person,” said an SIT member.
Faizan, a third-year student, was found dead in a hostel room in October last year.
The report of the second post-mortem on the remains, conducted at the Calcutta Medical College and Hospital in May 2023, said the manner of death was homicidal in nature.
The first post-mortem, which was performed at the Midnapore Medical College and Hospital, could not conclude how the student died.
The second post-mortem was conducted after the remains were exhumed from a burial ground in Assam’s Dibrugarh, Faizan’s hometown.
The family has spoken out against the way the local police conducted the probe and declared that the death was a suicide.
Faizan’s mother Rehana on Wednesday met the members of the special investigation team at Bhabani Bhavan and handed over a summary of the IIT’s fact-finding report, which contained deposition of psychological counsellors and students at the institute.
Rehana told The Telegraph they handed the summary to the officers to counter the claim that Faizan had committed suicide.
She said the summary of the report also referred to “election-related violence” at the RP Hall of Residence in February 2022, around the time Faizan was a boarder at the hostel.
He later shifted to the Lala Lajpat Rai Hall of Residence, allegedly without intimating the authorities.
“The officers asked about certain numbers found in the call records of Faizan. I identified the numbers,” said Rehana Ahmed.
Investigation officers said the “biggest challenge” was the fact that the incident happened more than eight months ago.
“Our primary aim is to establish the sequence of events before Faizan’s death. And for that we need to speak to all witnesses, including students. We are also depending on electronic evidence to check who were the people Faizan had been in touch with just before his death,” said an officer.