Faizan, a third-year mechanical engineering student, was found dead in a room at Lala Lajpat Rai Hostel on October 14, 2022.The room — C-205 — was not his.
The SIT probe into the student’s death is being monitored by Calcutta high court, which appointed forensics expert Ajoy Kumar Gupta to look at the case afresh. “I was provided (additional) video footage (of the body), based on which I came to a conclusion…As you might be aware, I had been asked by HC to provide a second opinion. I have already conveyed my opinion to SIT,” he told TOI Friday.
SIT head K Jayaraman, who is also director of the forensic science laboratory in Kolkata, did not respond to Gupta’s statement. “I can only say that we have submitted our report in court. We found no clue of homicide,” said the officer, who is of the rank of additional DGP.
Gupta’s assertion that Faizan was shot opens up the nearly two-year-long investigation. The case was to be heard by HC on Thursday, but the judge was reassigned to another legal matter. Justice Amrita Sinha is likely to hear the case on Monday.
The report submitted to HC in June last year — after the second postmortem, supervised by Gupta — does not mention any gunshot injury. It only states that Faizan’s injuries were “antemortem” and “homicidal in nature”. The report also mentions death “due to profuse bleeding, causing haemorrhagic shock and combined effect infused over chest and overhead”.
Five IIT Kharagpur students and two professors against whom there are ragging-related allegations are out on bail.
After Faizan’s death, his parents Salim and Rehana Ahmed moved high court, alleging that their son was murdered and that police — in collusion with IIT-Kharagpur authorities — were trying to pass it off as a suicide.
On the court’s orders, his body was exhumed in Assam and brought to Bengal for a second postmortem.
