Chief minister Mamata Banerjee called Swapnadeep Kundu’s parents on Thursday evening and assured them of an “appropriate probe” and “justice”.
Mamata spoke to Swapnadeep’s father Ramprasad Kundu.
Ramprasad on Friday said he spoke to the chief minister about the “brutality” that his son was subjected to. Mamata is said to have told him that the “culprits polluting the Jadavpur University campus will be punished”.
Swapnadeep, 18, of Nadia’s Bogula, was a BA (Honours) first-year student at JU. He is suspected to have jumped to his death from the second floor of JU’s main hostel on Prince Gulam Hussain Shah Road late on Wednesday, barely within three days of joining the course.
Speaking to reporters in Ranaghat, Nadia, a distraught Ramprasad said: “The chief minister called me in the evening and expressed her deep condolences. I found her very shocked and angry about the incident and she expressed helplessness at not being able to get my son back. She urged me to have faith in the administration and assured me that the culprits polluting the Jadavpur University campus will be punished.”
“Her words come as a ray of hope amid the unbearable pain... It gives me confidence and I am hopeful that she will act. I complained to her that my son fell victim to ragging,” he said.
Later on Thursday, governor C.V. Ananda Bose called Ramprasad and expressed his condolences. “He promised strong action,” the father said.
Ramprasad dropped his son to the hostel on August 6, a day before first-year undergraduate classes began.
“When leaving Swapnadeep in the hostel, some senior students cautioned me of possible trouble for newcomers. But I took it lightly… It was the biggest fault in my life… I should have understood this. I could never imagine this mistake would cost me so dearly,” Ramprasad said.
On Friday, a large number of students and residents of Bogula, Nadia, held a rally condemning the “murder” of Swapnadeep. They also put up a blockade on Krishnagar Road demanding the arrest of the culprits and a strong law for those guilty of ragging.
Late on Thursday, Swapnadeep’s last rites were performed at Santipur burning ghat.