13th arrest in case; Governor appoints new interim V-C

MP, 20 Aug 2023, Kolkata: The police on Saturday night arrested Joydip Ghosh, a former student of Jadavpur University, after prolonged interrogation, taking the total number of arrests to 13. Ghosh had tried to prevent the police from entering the hostel after the incident occurred. 

In another late-night development, Buddhadeb Sau has been appointed the interim Vice-Chancellor of Jadavpur University by Governor C V Ananda Bose. He is a professor of Mathematics at the university. Meanwhile, three persons who were arrested on Friday evening in connection with the death of the first-year Jadavpur University (JU) student were remanded to police custody till August 31 by Alipore Court on Saturday. 

The police have claimed that the death of the student is a pre-planned crime and all the 13 persons who have been arrested so far have made contradictory statements time and again in an effort to mislead the cops in the course of their probe. 

“Their statements before the sleuths have been contradictory which is a clear indication that they are successful criminals but ineffectual actors,” Chief Public Prosecutor Sourin Ghosal said. 

According to police sources, during reconstruction of the incident on Friday, most of the arrested persons have deviated from what they had claimed during interrogation. The three who were arrested on Friday are Sheikh Nasim Akhtar, Himanshu Karmakar and Satyabrata Roy. Roy is a fourth-year student of computer science engineering. 

Akhtar studied chemistry and Karmakar did mathematics at JU. The police said Akhtar is from Memari in East Burdwan, Karmakar from Shamsherganj in Murshidabad and Roy from Nadia’s Haringhata. Officers said all three were present in the hostel on August 9 night. It was Roy who had called the Dean of students Rajat Roy at 10.05 pm on August 9, the day when the death occurred apparently to inform him about a student being “politicised” in the hostel. 

Kolkata Police Commissioner Vineet Kumar Goyal on Saturday interrogated Sourav Chowdhury, the former student of the university who was the first to be arrested in the case along with a number of students and former students who had been apprehended individually. 

Meanwhile, members of the anti-ragging committee along with senior university officials visited the hostels of the university on Friday night and spoke to the boarders. It was checked whether any former student is still continuing to occupy the hostel. 

According to sources, hostel superintendents had informed that some boarders have vacated their hostel rooms and left for home. It has been directed that if any boarder leaves the hostel after 8 pm, he should have to mention the same in the register and when they enter, the same exercise should be done. 

It is learnt that the university had send a report to the University Grants Commission informing the various measures taken to curb ragging on Friday night. Trinamool Chhatra Parishad held a rally in the campus with the demand of installation of CCTV on Saturday afternoon. 

https://www.millenniumpost.in/bengal/13th-arrest-in-case-governor-appoints-new-interim-v-c-529848