Assam homicide case 2nd autopsy done of IIT Kharagpur student

KOLKATA: The second post-mortem of an IIT Kharagpur student whose body was exhumed for post-mortem has indicated that he may have died due to blunt force trauma to the back of his head.

The Calcutta High Court, which ordered the exhumation of Faizan Ahmed’s body and a second post-mortem, said it was surprising that the first post-mortem did not show injury marks on the back of his head.
The father of the third-year student had approached the High Court seeking formation of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe his son’s death on October 14, 2022, after his body was found in his IIT Kharagpur hostel room.

In his report, the forensic expert who conducted the second postmortem on May 27 said, “23-year-old Faizan died due to profuse bleeding caused by hemorrhagic shock and combined impact on the chest and head.
“Faizan’s manner of death was pre-mortem injuries. Homicide in nature,” the report said.
Expressing surprise at the omission of this crucial aspect in the first post-mortem, Justice Rajsekhar Mantha on Tuesday ordered the director of the Central Forensic Sciences Laboratory (CFSL), Rajarhat, to conduct an inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the death under which error occured.
Observing that there are “serious questions which the police and the IO (Investigating Officer) need to resolve,” the court said the case has now become a presumptive murder investigation.
Justice Mantha directed that the IOFIR would be free to add additional provisions and include other persons as accused and report on the next date of hearing on June 14.
The court directed the Kolkata police to arrange for Faizan’s body to be taken back to Assam’s Dibrugarh, where the student received and buried it, and hand it over to the family for last rites.
Justice Mantha had on April 25 directed court-appointed forensic expert Dr Ajoy Kumar Gupta to conduct a second post-mortem in the presence of the doctors who conducted the previous post-mortem for his opinion on the probable cause of Faizan’s death.
Gupta, a retired forensic expert from the state CID, said in the preliminary report filed in court that two injury marks on the back of the victim’s head were not mentioned in the first post-mortem report.
He also said that some cut marks on Faizan’s arms were placed after his death.
Gupta’s report states that the police seizure report mentions a chemical called Emplura (sodium nitrate) from the crime scene.

Court-appointed amicus curiae Sandip Bhattacharya submitted that sodium nitrate, a yellow powder, is commonly used to preserve meat.
The report stated that Gupta and Bhattacharya found some yellowish residue in a bucket while visiting the room.
It was told before the court that when a dead body decomposes, it is impossible for fellow inmates of the hostel not to detect it, but for three days, mysteriously, there was no smell from the dead body.
“The presence of the Emplura opens up serious questions regarding the time of death and whether it could have been used to preserve the body,” Justice Mantha had observed.
Taking cognizance of the ragging allegations, the court, while hearing the case on January 21, had directed to ensure proper counseling sessions initiated at the ground level.