Kolkata: For the first time in the last 424 days, Rehan Ahmed, mother of murdered IIT Kharagpur student Faizan Ahmed sees a ray of hope concerning the possibility of her only son’s killer getting nabbed.
Since December 1, Rehana has been in Kolkata and has met Special Investigation Team officers several times. She has also visited IIT Kharagpur with the SIT officials.
“On December 2, we met with the SIT, who asked about Faizan’s childhood, his behavior, food habits, and whether he was taking any medication for depression,” Rehana informed eNewsroom.
She further mentioned, “The team also discussed the probable accused with me and shared their suspect list.” SIT officials also showed the suspected phone numbers and took my help to zero-in some numbers.”
On December 6, SIT took Rehana and her lawyer to IIT Kharagpur. There they handed over all the items belonging to Faizan to Rehana.
Rehana however rued that no authority came to meet us, no one from IIT talked to us when we went there to pick Faizan’s items.
Rehana who was worried about the progress of the report seemed a bit better, when SIT officers told her that it may take sometimes but she will get justice.
“We came to know that Faizan was not an ordinary child, his brilliance was above other IITians. And so far whatever investigation has been done by us in this case has also increased our curiosity to know who killed Faizan and for what reason? SIT officers told me,” said Rehana.
SIT also informed Rehana that Faizan faced ragging in IIT KGP, which was not known to the family.
“He didn’t share with us, because he knew that we love him a lot, and sharing such news would disturb us,” she added.
Listen to Rehana Ahmed, talking to eNewsroom
Faizan Ahmed case
On October 14, 2022, the lifeless body of 23-year-old Faizan Ahmed was discovered in a state of partial decomposition within the confines of the IIT Kharagpur. Shockingly, the IIT authorities and Kharagpur police swiftly declared the third-year student’s demise as a suicide, a narrative vehemently contested by Faizan’s grieving parents, Rehana and Salim Ahmed, upon their arrival at IIT KGP.
The postmortem failed to provide satisfactory explanations for Faizan’s death, and neither the authorities nor the police offered any conclusive evidence. Strikingly, no traces of poisonous substances were detected in his body, and there were no discernible hanging marks on his neck. Frustrated and seeking justice, the Ahmed family took their grievance to the Calcutta High Court.
Despite the police maintaining their stance on suicide, Justice Rajasekhar Mantha intervened and appointed retired forensic expert Ajoy Gupta to review the postmortem. Gupta’s examination of video evidence revealed signs of hemorrhage, prompting a call for a fresh postmortem, a request granted by the court. The subsequent autopsy at Calcutta Medical College, involving the exhumation of Faizan’s body from its resting place in Dibrugarh, delivered a startling revelation – Faizan Ahmed, an outstanding student and member of two Aerial Robotics Research teams, had been killed within the IIT KGP campus. Justice Mantha unequivocally deemed it a homicide, leading to the formation of a three-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) under the leadership of senior IPS officer Jayaraman for further investigation.
Both the Bengal government and IIT KGP contested the single bench’s decision and moved to the division bench led by Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmai Bhattacharyya, who upheld the order. The division bench mandated that the case be probed solely based on the second autopsy’s findings, allowing the SIT to persist in its investigation while removing two of its members and granting the lead officer the autonomy to construct his team.
However, Rehana still wishes to meet chief minister Mamata Banerjee and request her to listen to her mother’s heart.
The next hearing is scheduled for December 18, when the SIT will submit its report.
It will be interesting to see whether SIT conducts Narco Analysis and Truth Serum tests on the accused or not, as it has been ordered by the court.
