Kolkata: Police have registered a murder case pertaining to the death of a Jadavpur University (JU) student, Swapnodeep Kundu, on the basis of a complaint filed by his father on Friday.
State Education minister Bratya Basu, on Friday, tweeted: “My deepest and heartfelt condolences to the bereaved family of Swapnodeep. A loss of a promising flower nipped at its bud is a great loss of Bengal and her society. I also strongly deplore such heinous acts of wanton violence.”
Police have interrogated several students on the basis of suspicion and have detained one. The detained student, Sourabh Chowdhury, M.Sc. (Maths) had completed his post-graduate degree in 2022 but was continuing to stay in the hostel. Sources informed that Swapnodeep’s roommates were questioned on Friday while a few other boarders of the hostel who were also asked to appear before the police did not turn up.
Swapnodeep’s father Ramprasad Kundu told the cops that he suspects some of the boarders in that hostel are responsible for his son’s death. However, he did not take any names. On the basis of his written complaint, police have registered an FIR and slapped charges of murder (U/S 302) and acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention under (U/S 34) of the IPC.
Meanwhile, on Thursday night, the Dean of Students of JU, Rajat Roy published a notice directing the undergraduate first-year students, who were allotted rooms in A-1 and A-2 block of the main hostel, to shift to the new boys’ hostel on a temporary basis. It was also mentioned that no guests of any ex-students are allowed to stay in the hostel. They were directed to leave immediately.
The hostel superintendent was asked to send the names of the outsiders, including ex-students, violating the notice. On Friday afternoon, Roy was called by the police for questioning. Before entering the police station, he claimed to a vernacular news channel that he had received a call from a student who informed that someone had asked Swapnodeep to either move out of the hostel or jump. “After hearing the problem, I called up the Superintendent at 10:08 pm and asked him to check on the student concerned. Later, around 12:05 am, the hostel superintendent called me and informed me about the incident,” said Roy.
Meanwhile, on Friday, JU Professor Om Prakash Mishra said ragging has been a longtime problem at the university. He added that seniors who have graduated are also staying inside the hostel with political backing from a certain party. He said there are no CCTVs in the university and whenever the issue was raised, it always faced resistance from a politically-backed section within the university. “The incident is unfortunate and we demand that whoever is responsible for it should be brought to book. Indiscipline has been prevailing at the university for the past six to seven years,” he said.