Jadavpur varsity student’s death: Senior tried to divert probe, says police

Kolkata: Investigation into the death of a first-year student of Jadavpur University has revealed that the letter, found in the victim’s diary and purportedly signed by him, was written by a senior student to divert the probe, officers of Kolkata police said on Monday.

The first-year undergraduate student of Bengali honours, a resident of Nadia district, allegedly jumped off the second-floor balcony of the main hostel building around 11.45 pm on August 9 and died while undergoing treatment at a hospital hours later.

Investigators have learnt that hours after the incident, a section of hostellers held a meeting to allegedly decide on the narrative they would give to everyone, including media and police.

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“The meeting was held after midnight in the hostel when the victim was battling for his life in the hospital. While some students rushed the victim to the hospital, a section of the hostel inmates held a meeting in the hostel,” a university professor said, requesting anonymity.

During the investigation, the police recovered a diary from Room Number 68 of the hostel, where the boy lived. It carried a letter purportedly signed by the victim and addressed to the dean of students, accusing a senior student Rudra Chatterjee —referred as Rudra Da in the letter — of ragging.

Also Read: Police probe sexual harassment angle in Jadavpur student’s death

During the probe, however, the police found out that the letter was written by one of the two second-year students arrested in the case to divert the probe, a senior officer from the detective department of Kolkata police said.

“It was written by Dipsekhar Dutta, a second-year student of economics, who is now is police custody. He was present in the room when the victim was being ragged, along with a few other senior and former students,” the officer said, requesting anonymity.

The letter was dated August 10 while the victim jumped off the hostel balcony on the night of August 9 and died in the early hours of August 10 in a hospital. The victim’s father has told the police that the handwriting in the letter was not of his son.

“It seems the letter was written to divert the police probe,” the officer said. “Some of the statements given by a section of the hostellers during questioning, seems to be tutored. Investigation is going on.”

Police have registered a case under section 302 (murder) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) based on a complaint lodged by the victim’s parents. So far, three people, including a former student Sourav Choudhury, who completed his MSc in Mathematics in 2022 but continued to stay in the hostel illegally, have been arrested. The other two accused have been identified as Dipsekhar Dutta, a student of economics and resident of Bankura district, and Manotosh Ghosh, a second-year sociology student and hails from Hooghly district. All three have been remanded in police custody till August 22.

A senior police officer said that mobile phones of the accused have been seized and sent for forensic analysis to check whether they had captured any video of the ragging incident and later deleted it.

Officers said they are also investigating if there was a sexual harassment angle in the incident. Police have taken cognisance of the social media posts of the first-year student, including photographs, which suggest there was an element of sexual harassment in the ragging of the deceased.

A senior officer said that police were not allowed to enter the hostel campus on the night of August 9. On Saturday, police lodged a case under sections 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions) and 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) of IPC.