IIT Kharagpur student may have been shot at, hit by an object: Forensic expert

Kolkata: IIT Kharagpur student from Assam Faizan Ahmed, whose decomposed body was found in a hostel room two years ago, "might have been hit by an object and shot at", a court-appointed forensic expert said on Saturday.

An examination of footage of the body revealed that there was a sign of a wound under the ear, said forensic expert Dr A K Gupta, who submitted his findings to the Calcutta High Court and to the special investigation team (SIT) which was probing into the death of the student in 2022.

"According to the footage of the student's body, there was a lot of blood and sign of a wound under the ear near the jaw which indicates the use of a weapon. The post-mortem examination report indicated that the decomposed body was found two days after his death," Gupta told PTI.

"I am looking for more footage for a conclusion. But the signs on his body indicate it is not a plain death. He might have been hit and shot at. I am in search of tying up the loose ends," he said.

Gupta said he had sent the findings to the SIT and to the Calcutta High Court.

"As the court-appointed forensic expert, I will share my views in future hearings as it is a continuous process," he said.

The court had directed the SIT to furnish relevant video clippings and still photographs as sought by Gupta.

The forensic expert had earlier told the court that to reach a conclusion regarding the sequence of events, he needed to peruse videos and still photos of the uppermost part of the right side of the neck of the deceased.

The court had asked the forensic expert to provide his final opinion on the cause of death on the next date of hearing.

The matter is likely to be taken up for hearing before the court next week, petitioner Salim Ahmed's lawyer Aniruddha Mitra said.

Calcutta High Court, which had ordered exhumation and the second post-mortem of the body of the IIT student, said it was surprised that the first autopsy missed the injury marks on the back of his head.

The third-year student's father had moved the high court seeking formation of a special investigation team to probe into the death of his son after his body was found in his hostel room on October 14, 2022.

An IIT Kharagpur official said, "We want truth to come out. We have always cooperated with the investigating agency and went by orders of the court."