Kolkata: Nearly four years after losing her only son, Rehana Ahmed has returned to Kolkata with a single hope—to secure justice for 23-year-old IIT Kharagpur student Faizan Ahmed, whose death was initially declared a suicide before a court-ordered second autopsy concluded that he had been murdered.
Faizan Ahmed, a brilliant student from Assam, secured an All India Rank (AIR) of 11 in IIT-JEE 2020. With such an exceptional rank, he could have enrolled at any IIT in the country. Instead, he chose IIT Kharagpur because he wanted to study at the institution where Google CEO Sundar Pichai had studied. After pandemic-related delays, he joined the Mechanical Engineering programme in December 2021 and soon became involved in robotics research projects, earning recognition as a promising young researcher.
In October 2022, less than a year after arriving on campus, Faizan’s partially decomposed body was found inside his hostel room. The first post-mortem concluded that he had died by suicide, but his parents challenged the findings before the Calcutta High Court.
The High Court appointed a retired forensic expert, who found signs inconsistent with suicide and recommended a second post-mortem. The fresh autopsy concluded that Faizan had been murdered, prompting the High Court to declare the case a homicide and constitute a Special Investigation Team (SIT). Despite these directions, the investigation has made little visible progress.
Now in Kolkata since July 17, Rehana and her husband, Salim Ahmed, are hoping to meet West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari and seek the state government’s support in reviving the stalled probe. Rehana says she believes the new government may help deliver justice. She recalled that Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had written to the then West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee seeking justice and later demanded a CBI probe. She also approached the National Commission for Minorities and the previous state government, but says her efforts yielded little progress.
The couple had been scheduled to meet the Chief Minister this week, but the meeting could not take place. They say they will remain in Kolkata until they get an opportunity to present their plea.
