The three-member special investigation team (SIT) set up to probe the death of IIT Kharagpur student Faizan Ahmed visited the campus on Thursday to start its investigation.
The team — whose members are an officer of the rank of additional director-general of police, a retired Kolkata police officer with specialisation in homicide probe and a state CID officer — was constituted on orders from Justice Rajasekhar Mantha of Calcutta High Court earlier this month.
The court issued the order after going through the report of the second post-mortem on Faizan's remains.
SIT member K. Jayaraman, additional director-general of police (headquarters), said they could not talk to any student on Thursday as they are on vacation.
"We have accessed the college records and have started examining the relevant parts. We will share more when we come to a conclusion," Jayaraman told The Telegraph.
Sources in the police said Faizan's laptop and mobile phone have been sent to the Central Forensic Science Laboratory for extraction of data and analysis. A request has been sent to an email service provider for access to his email account, an officer said.
Faizan had been found dead in a hostel room on the campus in October 2022. The first post-mortem, conducted at the Midnapore Medical College and Hospital, failed to explain how he died. The police had said Faizan had killed himself.
The report of the second post-mortem, conducted at the Calcutta Medical College and Hospital in May, said: “Manner of death.… was antemortem injuries, homicidal in nature.”
Following the second autopsy report, the high court ordered an "independent" team to conduct a fresh probe.
"No West Midnapore police officer was present when the team visited the campus on Thursday to maintain neutrality," a police source said.
Faizan's family has brought several allegations against the police officers who had probed the death and declared it a suicide.
"It has been learned that the deceased student had lodged a complaint of ragging against some of his seniors and staff of the college a few months before he was found dead. The scope of the investigation into his death would include the possibility of any interference from any of these people whose names had emerged during the ragging issue," said an officer familiar with the SIT probe.
West Midnapore police had started a case against five students and two employees of IIT Kharagpur in February 2023, four months after Faizan's death.
The SIT may visit the campus again and summon suspects in the case to Kolkata, depending on their findings, police sources said.
Faizan's mother Rehana said a member of the SIT called her on Friday afternoon and asked her to visit the room at the Lala Lajpat Rai Hall of Residence where her son's body was found.
He used to stay in room number 205 of the hostel after shifting out of the Rajendra Prasad hall early last year, a switch about which the Hall Management Council of the IIT was allegedly not informed.
“The SIT member who called me around 2.30pm asked whether we had visited the room earlier. When I said 'no', he told me to go to the campus and visit the room. He said they want to open the sealed room in our presence and left it to us to decide when we could go,” she told this newspaper.
“We will consult our lawyer and decide when to go. I was told Faizan's belongings would be handed over to us when we visit his room," she said.
The SIT has to submit a report to the court on July 12.
Passenger falls off bus, dies
AJC Bose Road: A man in his 20s died after falling off a running bus near Mullick Bazar around 11.30am on Friday.
Police identified the man as Mithhu Das, a resident of Canal East Road.
An officer of the traffic department said the exact circumstances in which the man fell off the bus could not be ascertained as the bus fled from the spot and officers could not examine any of the passengers.
“Das was taken to NRS Medical College and Hospital. He succumbed to his injuries around 5pm,” said the officer.
Others present at the spot at the time of the accident said it looked like Das was trying to get off the moving bus when he fell, said an officer.
The cops are now scanning CCTV camera footage from the area to identify the bus.
A case of rash and negligent driving has been initiated against the driver of the bus.
OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT