Kolkata, Feb 6 (PTI) The Calcutta High Court on Monday directed the West Bengal Police to submit on February 20 a final report on its investigation into the unnatural death of Faizan Ahmed, a third year student of IIT-Kharagpur, whose body was found in a hostel room of the institute on October 14.

Alleging that an attempt is being made to cover up a crime, lawyer for the deceased student's father prayed that the investigation be handed over to the state CID or any agency that the court deems fit.

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Justice Rajasekhar Mantha directed the police, which was represented in the court by Kharagpur additional superintendent of police Rana Mukherjee to file its final report in Faizan Ahmed death probe on February 20.

Adjourning its earlier instruction for IIT authorities to file on February 13 a compliance report of the directions given by it for ensuring mental well-being of students, Justice Mantha directed the premier engineering institute to submit the same on February 20, when the petition of Salim Ahmed, father of the deceased, will be taken up for hearing again.

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Salim Ahmed's lawyer Ranajit Chatterjee, pointing out that four months have passed since the death of the student, claimed there has not been any proper progress in the investigation.

Chatterjee submitted that it was improbable as claimed in the police report that Faizan had taken an overdose of anti-anxiety drugs, as there was no mention of such drugs or strips of it in the list of materials seized from his hostel room after the body was discovered.

Claiming that the post-mortem report was not conclusive, he alleged that Faizan's death might have resulted from violence.

The additional SP submitted before the court that the post mortem report does not say that the death was homicidal and stated that the door of Faizan's room was bolted from inside.

Admitting that the student had reportedly suffered ragging at one point, which was evident from a social media post of February, 2022, the police, however, stated that the tragedy could not, however, be linked to that incident as Faizan died several months later in October.

Taking note of allegations of ragging, the court had on January 21 directed IIT-Kharagpur authorities to hold appropriate counselling sessions, starting at the ground level, and said that its director will be personally responsible for implementing it.

Maintaining that it is concerned about the well-being of students seeking high-level scientific and technical education, the court had said that it expects the director of IIT-Kharagpur to take stringent measures in the wake of the unnatural death of Faizan, who hailed from Tinsukia in Assam.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)