On August 9, only minutes before Swapnodeep Kundu, a first-year Bengali honours student at Jadavpur University, died after falling from the second floor, his fellow room mates spotted him rushing across the corridor without any clothes.
Kundu attempted to enter the toilet to take cover but was unable to do so. He then entered a room and was hauled out by a third-year engineering student. Kundu was reportedly compelled to stand naked as his seniors raped him.
The alarming revelations were presented in a report submitted by the Jadavpur University’s internal investigation team. The humiliation and mental agony that the 17-year-old victim through were indescribable. According to the claim, the ragging began at 7:30 PM and lasted until 11:40 PM. The corridor scene occurred between 11:30 PM and 11:45 PM, and other students were there.
Between 11:00 and 11:45 p.m., he was spotted being restrained by 4th-year engineering student Satyabrata Roy and several seniors. Everyone else, including the freshmen, was in an all-hostelers general body meeting. Around 11:30 p.m., one of the boarders heard a plea for aid. According to the complaint, “a fresher was seen running completely naked, desperately trying to enter the toilet… and then rushing to room no 65.” However, when he attempted to seal the door, 3rd year engineering student Md Arif and others dragged him out.
According to the story, “thereafter, he was reportedly offered a bottle of water, which he gulped a bit before throwing the bottle at Md Arif, all the while standing stark naked in front of seniors… facing utter humiliation.”
He was transported to room 59 with other freshmen at 7:40 p.m. Ex-student Sourav Choudhury and four others compelled him to shout “highly objectionable, sexist, and abusive lines” to the female occupants of the adjacent police quarters. Chowdhury frightened him even more by threatening him with police action.
He was noticed sweating considerably at dinner about 8:20 p.m. He allegedly stated that he was under pressure from his senior dorm mates, and that the seniors were indulging in heavy drinking in his room.
He was transported to room 104 between 9 and 10:45 p.m. for another round of ragging. He was reportedly made to sign a complaint letter sent to the dean of students. According to the panel’s assessment, he was dragged in isolation in a well-planned act of cruelty. The panel found no conclusive proof of the incident that led to his collapse.
A student at Jadavpur University died.
Swapnodeep Kundu, a Bachelor of Arts in Bengali student from Hanskhali in Nadia district, fell down the second floor of the hostel building at midnight on August 9th. Swapnodeep was in room 68 on the second floor of the A-2 block of the Jadavpur University Main Hostel.
When students arrived at the scene after hearing a loud boom, they spotted Swapnodeep lying in a pool of blood. Swapnodeep was taken to KPC Medical College for treatment, where he died on Thursday at 4:30 a.m.
The deceased’s father, Ramprasad Kundu, filed a complaint alleging that some of the hostel’s inhabitants were responsible for his son’s murder. Following the complaint, investigations were launched, and multiple arrests were made.
13 named suspects were apprehended.
According to officials, the primary suspect is Sourabh Chowdhury, a 2022 graduate of the mathematics department. Chowdhury, who was staying in the hostel illegally, was the first person detained on August 11.
The others detained include Deepsekhar Dutta, a second-year Economics student; Manotosh Ghosh, a second-year Sociology student; Md. Arif, a third-year Civil Engineering student; Md. Asif Azmal, a fourth-year Electrical Engineering student; Ankan Sardar, a third-year Civil Engineering student; Satyabrata Rai, a fourth-year Computer Science student; former students Saptak Kamilya, Asit Sardar, Suman Naskar, Sk Nasim Akhtar, and Himanshu Karmakar.
“Nasim Akhtar and Monotosh shared Room No. 108 on the third floor, while Satyabrata Rai lived in Room No. 110 (third floor) and Arif in Room No. 74 (second floor).” “There was a dedicated room for these former students where they used to call freshers to introduce themselves,” the Police added.
Meanwhile, junior residents notified the police that there were no restrictions on previous students’ admission to the University.