Hand over probe into Assam’s IIT-K student to CBI: Himanta to Mamata
Guwahati: Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday wrote a letter to his west Bengal counterpart Mamta Banerjee asking to handover the probe into the mysterious death of a student from Assam in Indian Institute of Technology-Kharagpur (IIT-K) two years ago to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
A 24-year-old student of IIT-K, Faizan Ahmed from Tinsukia in Assam, was found dead in his hostel room on October 14, 2022.
The IIT-K authorities and West Bengal police had called it a case of suicide and the first autopsy report also stated the same. However, a second postmortem done on the directions of Calcutta high court revealed he was shot and stabbed.
“It is now reported that, as directed by the Hon’ble Calcutta high court, a second autopsy was carried out by exhuming late Ahmed’s body. According to the second forensic report, there was a gunshot wound on the upper left side of late Ahmed’s neck and a stab wound on the right side of his neck,” Mr Sarma wrote in his letter to Ms Banerjee on Monday.
Referring the findings of the second forensic report, he further said, “In view of the shocking findings of the latest forensic report, it is imperative that the perpetrators of the horrific crime as well as any other persons involved in concealing the crime are brought to book, thereby ensuring justice to the deceased, and closure to the grief-stricken parents. I, therefore, request you to kindly hand over the case to the CBI for a transparent and fair investigation of the crime.”
Mr Sarma wrote this letter to Ms Banerjee two days after the second autopsy report suggested that the student was possibly hit with some heavy blunt object, stabbed and shot by the accused.
Following the second autopsy report, parents of the deceased student had urged Mr Sarma to help them. This is the second time Mr Sarma has written to Ms Banerjee seeking her intervention for a fair probe into the case.
He had earlier written to the West Bengal CM on October 20, 2022, after the parents of the student, who noticed injury marks on his body, rejected suicide claims of IIT-K and local police.
The first autopsy on Ahmed’s body was done on October 15, a day after the body was found. The body was then handed over to his parents who took it to Assam and buried it.
Later, they approached the Calcutta high court seeking a thorough investigation into the death.
After hearing the plea of the family the Calcutta high court directed the police to re-investigate the case. Accordingly, the body was exhumed, and a second autopsy was conducted in May 2023.
