Six months after the death of IIT Kharagpur student Faizan Ahmed, the Calcutta High Court ordered the exhumation and a second post-mortem examination of the body on Tuesday, April 25, saying that it is necessary to bring out the truth behind his death.
Ahmed, a third-year student from the Mechanical Engineering department at IIT Kharagpur and a native of Assam, was found dead in his hostel room on October 14, 2022. Following this, his father moved the court seeking the formation of a special investigation team (SIT) to probe into the death.
As per PTI, Justice Rajasekhar Mantha directed that the second post-mortem of the body be conducted at the state-run Medical College and Hospital, Kolkata after exhumation. An affidavit of Ahmed's parents consenting to the exhumation and a second post-mortem has already been filed in court. Justice Mantha has ordered the investigating officer to coordinate with Assam Police for the exhumation and added that the West Bengal police will bring the body to Kolkata.
The high court has also appointed Dr Ajoy Kumar Gupta, a forensic expert, for his opinion on the likely cause of death. He will conduct the post-mortem examination in the presence of doctors who conducted the previous autopsy.
The hearing in the matter has been adjourned till April 13 and the court has ordered that the process be completed in one month.
Background on the case
Dr Ajoy Kumar Gupta, a retired forensic expert of the state CID, had stated in a preliminary report filed before the court that two injury marks on the back of the head of the victim were not mentioned in the first post-mortem examination report.
The report added that a few cut marks on the arms of the body were inflicted after the student's death, added PTI.
Adding to that, the police had also mentioned that a chemical called Emplura (sodium nitrate), which is normally used to preserve meat, was seized from the deceased’s bedroom. The report added that some yellowish residue, supposedly from the chemical, was found in a bucket in the victim’s room.
It was stated before the court that when a body decomposes, it is impossible that the fellow inmates of the hostel would not be able to detect it, but there was mysteriously no smell from the body for three days.
"The presence of this chemical Emplura opens up serious questions as regards the time of death and whether it may have been used to preserve the body after the death of the victim," Justice Mantha observed.