Upon the direction of the Calcutta High Court, the body of an Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur (IIT-K) student, who allegedly died by suicide, was exhumed in Assam's Dibrugarh on Tuesday, May 23, reports The New Indian Express.
The body belonged to Faizan Ahmed, 23, a fourth-semester student of Mechanical Engineering at IIT Kharagpur. Faizan was found dead in his hostel room on the IIT Kharagpur campus on October 14 last year.
While the college authorities declared that Faizan died by suicide, his family alleges he was murdered. The family had earlier given its consent to the Calcutta High Court for the exhumation of the body for a second autopsy.
Few people expressed their anger before an IIT Kharagpur official, who visited Dibrugarh, alleging the institute had been insensitive to the case all along.
What his family says
Salim Ahmed, Faizan's father, was hopeful that his son would get justice finally. "We had filed a petition in the Calcutta High Court. We said Faizan was murdered. After hearing our plea, the court ordered a second post-mortem. They (IIT Kharagpur) had shown the murder as a suicide. The truth will now come out. We will get justice," Ahmed told the press.
“I have come thus far (exhumation of the body) fighting for justice. We don't want such an incident to happen with any student," he continued.
He also sought the help of Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and stated that he would be happy if the case gets the intervention of the CM.
Rahana Ahmed, Faizan's mother, informed that Faizan’s body would be kept at Assam Medical College and Hospital’s morgue, and then be taken to Kolkata by a flight today. "IIT-Kharagpur said Faizan committed suicide but he was no coward. It will be proven that he was murdered," the mother asserted.
The body was exhumed in the presence of a team of West Bengal police personnel, local police personnel and forensic experts, said Arju Ahmed, a relative of Faizan.
The Calcutta High Court, in an earlier directive, ordered that the body must be exhumed and a fresh autopsy conducted. It deemed a second autopsy to be necessary for disclosing the truth about Faizan’s death.
