2 More Arrested In Jadavpur University Student Death Case, Sexual Harassment Probe Underway

In connection with the alleged ragging that led to the death of a student at Jadavpur University, age 18, earlier this week, the Kolkata Police has made two more arrests. Due to their suspected involvement in the incident, the police detained second-year sociology and economics students Manotosh Ghosh and Deepshekhar Dutta.

Earlier, Sourabh Chowdhury, an ex-university student, was detained by the police. He will be in police custody until August 22. Chowdhury, an ex-student, was residing in the hostel without permission. In 2022, he completed his MSc in mathematics.

According to sources, the initial inquiry indicated that the victim had experienced severe ragging, and they are currently looking into the possibility of sexual harassment.

Some social media posts claimed that during ragging, students frequently encounter vulgar comments and are coerced into performing sexual actions like stripping. They added that all of these claims are being looked into.

Around 11:45 p.m. on August 9, Swapnadip Kundu, a first-year undergraduate Bengali (Honors) student, fell from the balcony university’s main hostel building. After being brought to a hospital, he passed away around 4:30 on Thursday morning.

“Swapnadip spoke to his mother on Wednesday evening and told her he was not feeling good and was scared. His mother asked him what had happened and he said, ‘You please come fast. I have lots of things to tell you.’ When she called him back, the calls went unanswered. About an hour later, his parents got a call asking them to come to Kolkata as their son had suffered a fall,” the teen’s uncle, Arup Kundu, said.

“The body was completely covered but the doctor showed me a piece of paper which indicated injury marks on his body. How does this happen if it was not ragging?” Mr Kundu asked.

Ramprasad Kundu, Swapnadip’s father, reported his son’s death to the police and claimed that some of the hostel boarders were accountable for it.

According to a report by news agency PTI, Arpan Majhi, a classmate of Swapnadip, mentioned ragging by “some seniors” in a Facebook post.

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