Visakhapatnam: The Bengal Police have been investigating the case of death of student Riti Saha for the past three days here by reconstructing the scene of her fall from the hostel terrace.
A mock drill was conducted by the Bengal Police to see how the body would fall on the ground if one jumped from the top floor of the hostel.
Kolkata girl Riti Saha, who fell from the the third floor of her hostel around 10 pm on August 14, had been first admitted to Venkata Rama Hospital. The Bengal Police went to the hospital and spoke to the doctors there and collected information from them.
Riti Saha was first rushed to the Venkata Rama Hospital. From there, her father Sukdeb Saha later shifted her to Care Hospital, where she breathed her last.
Riti’s father, who had a hard time dealing with the casual ways of the IV Town Police and the Venkata Rama Hospital in his efforts to get justice to the family, said, “This hospital gave two statements. In one statement, about when Riti was admitted to hospital, it stated that the admission time was 10.45 pm. In the discharge statement, the admission time was given as 10.30 pm.”
At night on August 14, shortly after the fall, Riti’s father had spoken to her over video call. He claims that she was in a position to give a dying declaration.
The father says, “The Vizag Police might have taken the dying declaration, but they are not making it public. That is why, I guess, the Venkata Rama Hospital is not giving us the CCTV footage. This hospital is violating a court order too.”
According to Riti’s father, on August 15, when he reached Vizag around 2 pm, he found Riti was unconscious.
“Everyone told us Riti was on ventilator but what I found was the Venkata Rama Hospital did not even put an oxygen mask onto Riti and she was in the general ward. The hospital was saying a neurosurgeon would come to treat her. We waited till late at night. Riti’s condition was deteriorating. I took her to Care hospital,” the father said.
On August 16, around 12 noon, Riti was declared dead.
On August 15 itself, Sukdeb Saha tried to lodge a complaint at IV Town police station. “I did give a written complaint to the IV Town police station but it was not taken. I was asked to come the next day. As per the instructions, I was there in the police station the next morning and waited there till noon. Meanwhile, I got a call saying Riti died.”
“Then, the police told me that as Riti died, now they needed a statement from me under Section 161. I was not in a position to give that statement. The police told me that without a statement, Riti’s post-mortem won’t be possible. Then I gave my statement and I tried my best to collect a copy of it. The police were not cooperating. At night on August 16, around 12.45 am, the police gave me an FIR copy which however doesn’t reflect my complaint.”
“On the basis of a statement from Care Hospital’s Dr Sinki Suman, which carried death intimation under Section 174 IPC, the police filed the FIR and I was forced to sign it. After seeing the Vizag police’s behaviour, I went to the AP High Court to preserve the evidence,” the harried father said.
According to Sukdeb Saha, his daughter died in the hostel. But, the Vizag IV Town police went to the college for the initial investigation and questioned fellow students and teachers about Riti’s character. “The police were asking what kind of clothes Riti used to wear, did she have a boyfriend, etc,” the father added.
