The brutal rape and murder at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital and allegations of cop inaction prompted the Birbhum police to show proactiveness in handling a case of unnatural death of a female student at a Visva-Bharati hostel.

Anamika Singh, 21, a third-year undergraduate student in the varsity's Shilpa Sadana (department of cottage industry and crafts) and a resident of Benaras in Uttar Pradesh, was found unconscious in the corridor of Amrapali Girls' Hostel on Thursday evening.

Fellow students first took her to the university hospital but she passed away later that night after being admitted to the state hospital. While the exact cause of death was not immediately clear to the police, senior varsity officials informed her family that she had committed suicide by consuming poison.

"Visva-Bharati authorities told us that my daughter consumed poison," said Premlata Devi, mother of the victim.

A varsity official said that the police became highly proactive once the hospital confirmed the student's death.

When a police team entered the varsity hostel without any senior officials present to seal the room where Anamika had been staying, a group of students started an agitation.

According to norms, the police are permitted to enter a campus only with the approval of varsity authorities. A senior police officer said the police informed the varsity authorities and responded as quickly as possible to avoid allegations of delayed action.

“You know, there have been recent controversies over delayed police responses. To avoid any delay, we instructed the officer-in-charge to inform senior officials by phone and seal the student’s room,” Rana Mukherjee, the additional superintendent of police, Bolpur, told reporters.

“The hostel warden was with the police. The senior officials could have taken another 30 minutes or more to arrive. We did not waste that time,” Mukherjee added.

A senior varsity official mentioned that despite their request for authorities to lock the room, the police went ahead and sealed it.

“We already locked the room following the instructions of the police. When we arrived at the hostel, we found the police had put a second lock on the door. It was certainly proactive,” the varsity official said. A senior police officer said as the death was unnatural, the exact cause would only be confirmed after a post-mortem. They did not want to take any chances in handling the case.

“You're aware of what happened at RG Kar. There's already an instruction from the state to treat cases of atrocities against women with utmost seriousness, so we left no stone unturned,” said a police officer.

The police also exercised caution in conducting the victim’s post-mortem. A source revealed that following instructions from senior police officers, the body was sent to Rampurhat Medical College and Hospital for autopsy by a medical board, even though Bolpur Hospital had a post-mortem facility.

"In such cases, post-mortems are usually conducted at the sub-divisional hospital. However, in this instance, we took no risks and sent the body to Rampurhat Medical College for the autopsy," said a senior police officer in Bolpur.

"If there is no violence behind the death, it is fine. But we can't take any risk," he added. A police officer, who has served in the district for many years, noted that it was not only the Birbhum but also police across Bengal who have been handling such cases more sensitively following the RG Kar controversy.

However, Birbhum police chief Raj Narayan Mukherjee denied that the increased proactiveness was related to the RG Kar incident, stating that the police were following standard procedures for investigating such cases. He confirmed that there was no complaint lodged by the family so far.