‘Now see ray of hope’: Mother of IIT student on HC order to probe son’s death
IIT Kharagpur said that Faizan Ahmed died by suicide, but his family alleged that he was murdered and approached the Calcutta high court to seek a probe
SILCHAR: The mother of IIT-Kharagpur student Faizan Ahmed said on Wednesday that she was satisfied with the Calcutta high court’s observation that he was murdered on the campus at Bengal’s West Midnapore district in October last year.
The single bench of justice Rajesekhar Mantha made the observation on Tuesday after going through the report of the second post mortem that he ordered, according to news agency PTI.
“The IIT authorities tried to make up a story that Faizan committed suicide while we kept saying that he was murdered. We now see a ray of hope. Justice will be served,” Rihana Ahmed, the mother of the deceased, told HT.
A case of unnatural death was registered by the Kharagpur town police station in West Midnapore after the body of 23-year-old Faizan, a third-year student, was found in his hostel room on October 14, 2022.
Refusing to accept the IIT management’s argument that Faizan committed suicide, his father, Selim Ahmed, moved the Calcutta high court last year seeking formation of a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the death.
On Tuesday, justice Mantha observed that “there are serious questions that need to be addressed by police and the IO (investigating officer)” and directed that the IO will be free to add additional sections to the first information report (FIR) and include suspects before reporting to the court during the next hearing on June 14, PTI reported.
On April 25, justice Mantha directed Dr Ajoy Kumar Gupta, a retired forensic expert appointed by the court for his opinion in this case, to conduct a second post mortem in the presence of doctors who conducted the first one.
The Bengal government challenged the order but it was upheld by a division bench on May 19.
Faizan’s body was exhumed at Amolapatty burial ground in Dibrugarh town on May 23. The second autopsy was done in Kolkata on May 27.
The report listed multiple injuries on the body, including two on the back of the head, and profuse bleeding.
Justice Mantha’s order on Tuesday also told the director of Central Forensic Sciences Laboratory (CFSL) in Kolkata to inquire why these details were not detected during the first post mortem.
Dhritiman Sarkar, superintendent of police, West Midnapore district, said: “We have not received the court order yet. We will take action according to legal provisions once we get it.”
Faizan’s mother alleged that the local police did not carry out a proper investigation and even refused to register an FIR mentioning murder on the basis of the family’s complaint.
“The police refused to lodge a FIR on the basis of our complaint. It is now clear that they did not investigate the matter,” she said.
Faizan’s body will be returned to his family on Friday by the Kolkata police.
“Government officials said we will receive the body on Friday. A formal burial will take place again. We are not sad that his body had to be exhumed. Rather, we are happy that truth is emerging,” she said.
“Only a mother knows the pain of losing a son this way. I don’t want any mother to go through this phase. No son deserves to be killed like this,” Rihana Ahmed added.
