The mobile phones and laptops of the students and former students of Jadavpur University who have been arrested in connection with the death of a first-year student could hold important evidence related to the incident, police said on Monday.
Six of the accused, who were in police remand, were produced in the additional chief judicial magistrate’s court on Monday and sent to judicial custody till September 8.
The lawyers representing the youths said their clients were “innocent” and that they had nothing to do with the death of the 17-year-old student.
“There is no witness who saw them being involved in the incident. The police arrested them just to harass them,” said a defence lawyer.
Chief public prosecutor Sourin Ghosal said there was no witness even in the Hetal Parekh murder case, for which Dhananjay Chatterjee was convicted and hanged.
“There was no witness even in the Hetal Parekh murder case. The conviction was based on circumstantial evidence,” Ghosal said.
The defence lawyers said police had started the case three days after the death of the student.
The prosecution submitted that the police started a case of murder after receiving a complaint from the family.
All six who were produced in the court on Monday are “technology experts” and hence their mobile phones and laptops needed to be examined properly, the prosecution submitted.
“Their mobile phones and laptops have been sent for a forensic examination. The report is pending. The forensic report for the reconstruction of the incident — whether the victim jumped, was thrown off the balcony or fell accidentally — is also pending,” said a prosecution lawyer.
The prosecution sought a 14-day judicial remand for the six accused who have already spent 14 days in police custody.
After hearing both sides, the court sent the six to judicial remand till September 8.
The six who were produced in the court on Monday were Mohammad Asif Afzal Ansari, 22, Mohammad Arif, 18, Ankan Sarkar, 20, Asit Sardar, 21, Suman Naskar, 26 and Saptak Kamilya, 27.
Altogether, 12 people were have been arrested in connection with the case.
Three other accused — Sourav Chowdhury, Manotosh Ghosh and Deepsekhar Dutta — are also in judicial remand. Another three — Sheikh Nasim Akhtar, Himanshu Karmakar and Satyabrata Roy — are still in police custody.
Akhtar, Karmakar and Roy will be produced in court on August 31.