New Delhi: The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday formed a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the death of IIT Kharagpur student Faizan Ahmed last October.
The court’s decision came a day after a report suggested that a second autopsy performed on the student’s body had found injuries before death that “were homicidal in nature”.
Ahmed, 23 — a resident of Assam’s Tinsukia district — was a student of mechanical engineering at IIT-Kharagpur. He was found dead in room 205 of the Lala Lajpat Rai hostel on 14 October.
The lawyer for Ahmed’s parents Aniruddha Mitra had told ThePrint that Ahmed was lying on the floor of the room and had marks on his body. “He was last seen on 11 October. His last phone call as per call record data was also made that night. So for at least four days, his body was lying in the room, and no one had any idea,” Mitra had said.
An FIR was filed by the police at Kharagpur Town station on 16 October since it was an unnatural death. A senior police official of West Medinipore told ThePrint that the case indicated ragging.
Ahmed’s family moved Calcutta High Court on 1 November, dissatisfied with the police investigation and alleging that IIT Kharagpur was attempting to make a case of suicide to safeguard its reputation.
On 23 May — on the directions of the Calcutta High Court – Ahmed’s body was exhumed from the Amolapatty graveyard in Dibrugarh for a second postmortem. The remains were flown to Kolkata for further forensic tests.
The high court had held that the second postmortem was “vital and necessary for arriving at the truth”. The second autopsy apparently revealed Ahmed sustained injuries before he died.
Also read: 2nd autopsy of IIT Kharagpur student’s body indicates ‘homicide’