Kolkata/Bogula, Aug. 9 Swapnadip Kundu, 18, resident of Nadia’s Bogula – a BA (Honours) first-year student of Jadavpur University, suspected to have jumped to death late on Wednesday night from the second floor of Jadavpur University’s main hostel on Prince Gulam Hussain Shah Road, barely within three days he joined the class. Father of the deceased student has alleged suspected “ragging” as the reason behind the death as he called him a few hours before the suspected dead urging him to take him back home soon as he was not ‘well”.
Both Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Governor C.V.Ananda Bose called Ramprasad Kundu, the father of the student, and assured justice with appropriate probe while expressing their deep condolences.
The governor also visited the Jadavpur University campus later on Thursday evening and interacted with students. He claimed that students had shared some sensitive information with him, which cannot be disclosed, apparently for the sake of investigation.
Meanwhile, police have begun a suo motor case for the unnatural death. On the other hand, Jadavpur University has also begun an internal probe.
Police and sources at the University said that at around 9.45 pm on Wednesday, Swapnadip fell from the second floor of the main hostel building. He was found lying unconscious in a naked state and rushed to the KPC Medical College. The students succumbed to the injuries at about 4.30 am on next morning”.
Victim’s maternal uncle Arup Kundu said, “We strongly suspect that Swapnadip fell victim to ragging. We also he was killed after ragging. He called his father barely an hour after his fatal fall when he said feeling unwell and urged them to take back him hostel soon. His mother later called his phone, but that remained unanswered. Police should try to find out the persons who are responsible for his death”.
Swapnadip’s home in Bogula
Family sources claimed that on August 3, Swapnadip was admitted after successful counseling. His father took him to the campus on August 6, a day before the classes for the new session is set to begin. However, he was not allotted any room and had to share a room with some seniors at the main hostel building.
“Some senior students advised his father to stay as a guest instead of looking for any guest house or rented accommodation outside the campus. Now we have strong reason to suspect that it was a trap…We are sure that the boy was ragged, tortured brutally that might lead to death…Else there is no reason a boy like him would suddenly die falling from the balcony”, Swapnadip’s maternal uncle said, while ruling out the possibility of suicide.
The suspicion and possibility of rigging deepened further following a Facebook post of a senior professor of Jadavpur University. “A first-year student died a little while ago, being a victim of ragging…”, he wrote on his wall.
Swapnadip, a resident of Bogula College Para North, passed the Higher Secondary examination this year with 78% marks. A student of the science faculty at Bogula High School, he was admitted to the local Srikrishna College in Computer Science. However, a flair for creating writing in Bengali eventually encouraged him to join Jadavpur University – his dream campus after his name was published on the admission list.
Headmaster of his alma mater Utpal Mondal said, “Swapnadip was a humble, down-to-earth person. He was meritorious, but could not obtain good marks as he expected being a science faculty student. He was very sincere. Such an end of his life is unacceptable to us”.