Police on Tuesday submitted in court that Sourav Chowdhury, a former student at Jadavpur University, was the alleged “mastermind” of the incident that led to the death of the 17-year-old student on August 10.
The chief public prosecutor submitted in the additional chief judicial magistrate’s court at Alipore that at least one WhatsApp group of Jadavpur University students had been used to spread the lie that Chowdhury was not staying at the main hostel regularly because of his mother’s illness.
“We have found several WhatsApp chats that mentioned that Sourav Chowdhury was not staying regularly at the hostel because of his mother’s illness. This was a ploy to tamper with evidence. He was actually the mastermind of the whole incident,” said chief public prosecutor Sourin Ghosal.
Chowdhury and two others, Deepsekhar Dutta and Manotosh Ghosh, were produced in the Alipore court on Tuesday. Dutta and Ghosh both are students at JU.
The three are among the 12 accused in custody charged with murder for the death of the first-year student, who was allegedly thrown from a balcony of the main hostel.
Ghosh’s lawyer said his client’s name was not mentioned in the FIR and that his only “fault” was to help the victim get accommodation in the hostel.
“My client was not involved in the incident. He was only part of the general body meeting, which was also attended by many other students. His only fault was that he helped the victim get accommodation in the hostel,” Ghosh’s lawyer submitted in the court.
Dutta’s lawyer said his client wanted to be counselled as he was feeling traumatised.
All defence counsel sought judicial remand for their clients.
Ghosal, however, submitted in the court that as 12 persons have been arrested at different times in connection with the death, it was important to examine them face to face.
“It is very important to examine all the accused face to face, which will not be possible if some of them are sent to judicial remand. Hence, we seek extension of the police remand,” Ghosal submitted.
The magistrate extended the police remand of Chowdhury till August 25 and of Dutta and Ghosh till August 26.
The police on Monday summoned a former JU student whose name has allegedly cropped up during the investigation but who has been out of town since August 10.
Apart from the 12 accused charged with murder, the police have arrested a student for allegedly preventing the cops from performing their duty.