Justice Rajasekhar Mantha of Calcutta High Court, who examined the second post-mortem report of a third-year IIT Kharagpur student, wrote in his order on Tuesday: “There are serious questions that are required to be addressed by the police and the investigating officer.”
“The matter now becomes an investigation into a likely homicidal of murder,” Justice Mantha wrote in his order.
The order quotes “the observation of the forensic expert of the post-mortem dated 27th May, 2023”.
The observation: “Death of Faizan Ahmed, 23 years... was due to profuse bleeding causing hemorrhagic shock and combined effect infused over chest and over head. Manner of death of Faizan Ahmed... was ante-mortem injuries, Homicidal in nature. Further opinion will be given after receipt of report of preserved articles from forensic science laboratory.”
The “forensic expert” the order was referring to was Ajay Kumar Gupta, who was asked by the high court to conduct the second post-mortem. He submitted the report to the court on Tuesday.
Justice Mantha had ordered a forensic probe into Faizan’s death after police submitted that the student had committed suicide.
Ranajit Chatterjee, one of the lawyers representing Faizan’s family, said on Wednesday: “Once they (the police) had told the court that Faizan had slashed his wrist with a blade. While taking exception to this finding, I asked in the court why the blade was not found in his room. Now the post-mortem report has quashed the theory of suicide. The court itself has said there are ‘serious questions’ that are required to be addressed by the police.”
Told about the “serious questions”, Dhritiman Sarkar, superintendent of police, West Midnapore, told Metro: “We are awaiting the court order and other documents. Once we get those, necessary actions will be taken by the police.”
The court has asked the investigating officer to submit a report after going through the second post-mortem report on June 14.
“The investigating officer shall be free to add additional sections to the FIR and include other persons as accused.... The investigating officer may collect the original post-mortem report from Dr Ajay Kumar Gupta, by tomorrow (Wednesday),” says the court order.
“The director of the CFSL (Central Forensic Science Laboratory), Rajarhat, Kolkata, shall personally ensure that a fresh forensic report is submitted within a week of receipt of the samples.”
This newspaper reported about Justice Mantha’s order on Wednesday but the written order of the court had not been uploaded till late on Tuesday evening.
Justice Mantha’s order says: “This court is surprised that the first post-mortem doctors missed out on the vital and important aspect of the body of the deceased. The director of the CFSL (Central Forensic Science Laboratory) shall cause an enquiry into the circumstances under which the omission occurred.”
The first post-mortem was conducted at the Midnapore Medical College and Hospital and the second at the Calcutta Medical College and Hospital.
This newspaper contacted Sundarlal Hembram, a faculty member of the department of forensic science and medicine at Midnapore Medical College, who conducted the first autopsy along with a postgraduate trainee. He said: “Our report was based on what we found. I don’t want to say anything more.”
Faizan’s body was found in a room at the Lala Lajpat Roy Hall of Residence on the IIT campus in October 2022. The family alleged that the third-year mechanical engineering student had been murdered by senior students because he refused to take part in ragging.
The remains of the body were exhumed from a burial ground in Assam’s Dibrugarh, the student’s hometown, for the second post-mortem.
Faizan’s mother Rehana Ahmed said on Wednesday: “It seems all, the police, the IIT authorities, the post-mortem doctors, have failed us. The court is our only hope.”
Calls and text messages from this newspaper to IIT Kharagpur director V.K. Tewari failed to elicit a response.