Six more arrested in Jadavpur University student’s death

The victim, a first-year student of Bengali honours, had fallen from the balcony of his hostel last week and died during treatment.

KOLKATA: Six more current and former students have been arrested in the death of a fresher due to alleged ragging at Kolkata’s Jadavpur University.

This takes the total number of arrests to nine in the case that has triggered public anger across the state.

The Dean of Students and Registrar of JU were asked to meet Joint CP Crime on Wednesday at the Lalbazar, the Kolkata Police headquarters, the officer said.

Three former students of the varsity are among the six held on Tuesday night during multiple operations conducted by teams of the city police, he said.

“We arrested them last night after they gave incoherent replies to our officers during questioning. It seems that they were actively involved in the death of the student. We will produce them in a court later in the day,” the officer told PTI.

Police said, of the six, two are third-year civil engineering students, and one is studying electrical engineering.

Talking more about the arrests, the police officer said all the six were staying at the hostel and had allegedly fled from there after the death of the student.

“Three of the six students were staying at the hostel even after they passed out from the university. They fled soon after the first arrest was made,” he said.

There was no CCTV camera at the hostel, which violates the standard norms, he said.

“We are also questioning others and have asked the Dean of Students and Registrar of JU to meet Joint CP Crime at the Lalbazar this evening,” the officer told PTI.

Earlier, the police had arrested three students of JU for their alleged involvement in ragging the 18-year-old undergraduate student.

The victim, a first-year student of Bengali honours allegedly fell from the second-floor balcony of the main hostel around 11.45 pm on Wednesday and died while undergoing treatment at a hospital the next day.

The city police have taken cognizance of JU students’ social media posts, including photographs, which suggest that there was an element of sexual harassment in the ragging of the deceased.

A case of murder and conspiracy has been registered by the police after several allegations of ragging emerged. A sexual harassment angle is also under probe, sources had said.

The incident has triggered a political war of words with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee blaming the Left-backed student bodies over the incident. The BJP is set to hold a protest over the incident.