Jadavpur University Student Death: Police Arrest Ex-Student, to be Presented Before Court on Saturday

The West Bengal police on Friday arrested an ex-student in the death case of a first-year student of Jadavpur University. This is the first arrest in the alleged suicide case and the accused will be produced in the court Alipore Court tomorrow.

The accused is a former MSc student, Sourabh Chowdhury. Earlier in the day, he was taken into custody for interrogation.

Swapnodeep Kundu, a student at Jadavpur University, died after allegedly falling from the second-floor balcony of the main hostel. He was grievously injured and was undergoing treatment at the KPC Medical College where succumbed to the injuries at 4.30 am on Thursday.

The 18-year-old accused hailed from Bagula, Hanskhali. He was an undergraduate student of Bengali (honours).

According to a preliminary probe, he allegedly fell from the A2 hostel building around 11.45 pm on Wednesday.

Some students claimed that Kundu’s death was a result of ragging at the University campus.

Sources said that the boy had started staying with his friends instead of staying at the hostel as he was afraid to stay at the hostel because of constant alleged harassment.

However, the police are investigating the suicide angle after his parents alleged foul play by the hostel. Some students have claimed that Kundu took the extreme step due to ragging at Jadavpur University. One of the professors has also alleged that the incident was related to ragging.

Initial probe disclosed that the victim called his mother at around 9 PM on Wednesday and expressed his fear “about something”, a police officer said.

“His phone got switched off later. We are looking into his call list to find out whether he spoke to anyone else after that or not,” the police said, adding that they have examined the mobile phones of his roommates.

“We are waiting for the post-mortem examination report. That will help us in our investigation,” he added.

Meanwhile, another first-year student of Jadavpur University alleged in a Facebook post that ragging by “a few seniors” was behind the death of his friend Swapnodeep.