Kolkata: The Scholars Avenue at the Indian Institute of Technology campus at Kharagpur is usually bustling with students and research scholars. Animated discussions take place about placements, projects, semesters and ongoing sporting events. All this, however, comes to a sudden stop when Faizan Ahmed is mentioned.
Ahmed was an undergraduate student at IIT Kharagpur’s mechanical engineering department. His decomposed body was found in a hostel room – not the one allotted to him – on the morning of October 14, 2022. He was 23 years old at the time. Nearly two years after the incident, a forensic report submitted in the Kolkata high court in May this year confirmed that Ahmed was stabbed, then shot dead.
The confirmation of the killing of a student at a premier institution of the country, was met with an all-pervading silence at the campus instead of shock and uproar. The Wire spoke to several students and faculty members about the incident. While everyone agreed that it was a gruesome murder, no one wanted to speak on record about it.
Negligence by authorities
Soon after Ahmed’s body was discovered, IIT authorities and Kharagpur police had claimed that he had died by suicide. However, on seeing the state of Ahmed’s body, his parents moved the Kolkata high court on November 1, 2022.
According to reports, Ahmed’s body was initially left uncovered and staff from the university hospital did not respond to students’ calls for aid. Eventually, the body was transferred to Kharagpur State Hospital, where it remained unattended, and was later moved to Midnapore Medical College.
Press release from IIT Kharagpur’s director. Photo: Special arrangement.
Faizan’s family learned about the death of their only child from the police. No one from the university authorities approached them or offered any condolences, they told The Wire.
According to a report by Awaz, the campus media body of IIT Kharagpur, students repeatedly requested the authorities to meet with the deceased’s family, but the pleas went unheard. Faizan’s parents’ requests to meet the institute’s deputy director, in the director’s absence, were also declined.
Ahmed’s family said that their son could not have died by suicide and believe that he was murdered. While the first postmortem report did not establish a cause of death, Kharagpur police maintained that Ahmed had died by suicide.
Body found in a different room
Ahmed had been allotted a room in the Rajendra Prasad hall when students returned to campus after COVID-19 restrictions were lifted. However, his body was found in Lala Lajpat Hall’s room number 205.
His mother, Rehana, told The Wire, “On the night of October 11, 2022, Faizan talked to me on the phone. After that, his phone was switched off. On October 14, his decomposed body was found in Lala Lajpat hall’s Room No. 205. He had not informed his family about changing rooms, so how did he end up in a different room?”
According to his batchmates, Ahmed had an argument with some senior students over a hall election, after which he moved to a room at LLR hall through unofficial arrangements.
Ahmed’s lawyer, Aniruddha Mitra, told The Wire that he had also refused to participate in a “group event” organised by senior students. Mitra and Ahmed’s mother, Rehana, described this as a form of “collective ragging.” Students whom The Wire spoke to confirmed that such group events, where juniors are forced to sing and dance to entertain seniors, are common in the campus. Despite the Supreme Court’s ban on ragging, multiple complaints from IIT Kharagpur have been lodged with the UGC’s anti-ragging helpline.
An email from Ahmed, sent to the authorities at the institute, pointed out their indifference towards handling ragging on campus.
In their initial complaint to the police, Faizan’s family named three senior students for their alleged involvement in the matter. However, due to the clean-chit given by the authorities and police, no action was taken against the accused. The family’s appeal to retain the accused’s passports was also denied.
Police’s initial ‘theories’ refuted by experts
The police initially alleged that Faizan had slit his wrist with a blade that they found in a field outside the hostel. However, no blood was found on the blade in forensic tests, say his family. Ahmed also had a deep wound above his elbow. The police then claimed he overdosed on medication, citing two strips of blood pressure and fever medication, each missing four pills, found in his room. These claims too were refuted by his family who consulted medical experts. Ahmed’s viscera report showed no traces of chemicals, drugs, or toxins, his family claimed, adding that this was contradicting the police’s claims.
Finally, under pressure to conduct a proper investigation, the police lodged an FIR against seven people from the institute – five students, a teacher and a former hostel warden – in February 2023, accusing them of ragging, criminal intimidation, destruction of evidence and causing hurt. Since then, all accused have been granted anticipatory bails and the students have graduated and moved out of the campus.
The Kolkata high court on March 29, 2023 appointed forensic expert Dr Ajay Gupta to the case, who recommended a second postmortem.
Both the West Bengal government and IIT Kharagpur authorities opposed the division bench’s decision but the court ordered that Faizan’s body be exhumed and a postmortem report submitted within 15 days.
On May 23, 2023, Faizan’s remains were exhumed from his grave in Tinsukia, Assam, and a second postmortem was conducted in Kolkata four days later.
The autopsy report revealed that Ahmed’s death was homicidal in nature. Gupta found multiple stab wounds and gunshot evidence on the body during this postmortem. Other findings included adhesive tape wrapped around the back of the head and neck.
In June 2023, Justice Rajasekhar Mantha constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate the case as a homicide.
“After reviewing Dr. Ajay Kumar Gupta’s report, Honorable Justice Mantha formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) for this case, appointing K. Jayaraman as its head. Despite the ongoing conflict between IIT Kharagpur authorities and Faizan’s family, the West Bengal government again exhibited bias by opposing the formation of the SIT. The court will deliver its final verdict based on the report,” said Aniruddha Mitra, Faizan’s lawyer.
‘The government is not doing anything’
Last week, Dr Gupta submitted another report which stated that the injuries observed on Ahmed were solely caused by a gunshot wound to the uppermost part of the left side of his neck, between the left earlobe and the angle of the lower jaw (mandible).
Faizan’s mother said, “The government is not doing anything. IIT Kharagpur authorities are inhumane. On one hand, they are pretending to be sympathetic to our grief, while on the other, they have appointed three lawyers to prove that Faizan was depressed and took his own life.”
“It’s just not a case of ragging-related violence. This is a very dark case with possible involvement of the underworld that the current authority is trying to suppress. That’s why everyone is afraid to speak,” said a former senior official of IIT Kharagpur on the condition of anonymity. He refused to speak directly and used another person’s phone to reach out. He also refused to elaborate on the apparent “underworld” he referred to.
Local BJP MLA Hiran Chatterjee, currently pursuing his post-doctorate at IIT Kharagpur, has demanded a CBI enquiry into the case. “I firmly believe that keeping the current director in place will not lead to a fair and impartial investigation. I have been maintaining from the very beginning that this is a murder, and the IIT director has acknowledged the institution’s negligence and shortcomings. I am appalled that the accused director is attempting to manipulate the local police in any way to portray the murder as a suicide,” stated Chatterjee.
Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, meanwhile, wrote to Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee last month, seeking justice for Faizan.
“In view of the shocking findings of the second forensic report it is imperative that the perpetrators of the horrific crime as well as any other person involved in concealing the crime, are brought to book. I, therefore, request you to kindly hand over the case to the CBI for a transparent and fair investigation of the crime,” Sarma wrote.
