Kolkata: The lawyers representing the state (Mamata Banerjee government) have sought the formation of a medical board to review the two autopsies in the Faizan Ahmed murder case.
On September 24, after 15 months, the hearing on the murder case of IITian Faizan Ahmed resumed at the Calcutta High Court. Surprisingly, the state counsels made an oral submission before Justice Tirthankar Ghosh, requesting that the two autopsies be reviewed by a medical board.
On October 14, 2022, Faizan Ahmed’s partially decomposed body was found inside his IIT Kharagpur hostel.
The first postmortem conducted at Midnapore Medical College had concluded that Faizan Ahmed, a third-year mechanical engineering student of IIT Kharagpur, had died by suicide. However, his parents refused to accept the Kharagpur Police’s claim, pointing out several inconsistencies. They moved the Calcutta High Court, where the police failed to provide a clear explanation for the cause of the 23-year-old student’s death. Justice Rajasekhar Mantha, who was hearing the case, appointed retired forensic expert Dr Ashok Kumar Gupta to independently review the matter. After carefully examining the video footage of the initial autopsy, Dr. Gupta observed what appeared to be signs of hemorrhage on Faizan’s body, raising serious doubts about the suicide theory. He recommended a second autopsy to ascertain the truth. The court accepted his suggestion, and a fresh postmortem was conducted at Calcutta Medical College. The second report changed the course of the case—it confirmed that Faizan’s death was not suicide but homicide.
After the findings, the court also set up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) led by an IPS officer. Later, a division bench comprising Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmai Bhattacharyya confirmed that further investigation would proceed based on the outcome of the second postmortem and continued with the SIT.
The order of September 24 (copy with eNewsroom )also mentioned that the report of forensic expert Ashok Gupta (submitted to the court in May 2024) has been kept on record.
“We have opposed it and said that tthe second postmortem was upheld by the division bench. And the bench of the then Chief Justice had approved the formation of the SIT in it too,” Faizan Ahmed’s counsel Anirudha Mitra told eNewsroom.
Mitra also informed the court that they had presented all the recordings and opposed the formation of the medical board.
Faizan’s mother accuses state of betraying victims
In 2023, Rehana Ahmed had written to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, urging her to intervene and help secure justice in the case. However, while Mamata Banerjee spoke publicly on two other cases of students’ murders—one involving a Jadavpur University student and another of a medical student at RG Kar—she did not make any statement on the murder of IITian Faizan Ahmed.
“I have a question for Mamata Banerjee. It has been two years, and we did not get justice. And now we see the state requesting a medical board. Why do they want to review the autopsy? To change the outcome of the second autopsy? As the mother, I do not allow any other postmortem of my son,” said Rehana, the grieving mother.
“Since the death of my son, we have never received support from the Bengal police or state counsels. Is this how you treat the family of a genius who was murdered in Bengal?”
Significantly, the state lawyers had also opposed the formation of the SIT and argued to continue with the Bengal police, but the division bench had gone ahead with the single bench decision.
“Does the state stand with victims or with perpetrators?” questioned Rehana.
The court of Justice Tirthankar Ghosh has fixed November 6, 2025, as the next hearing date in the case.
Thank you for keeping the issue alive. Faizan and his parents deserve justice. The apathy exhibited by the West Bengal Govt merits serious concern.