JU student death: Police reconstruct crime scene for third time

The Kolkata Police on Monday reconstructed the crime scene for the third time to understand the sequence of events which unfolded on August 9, when a freshman at Jadavpur University died after allegedly being ragged and sexually harassed by his seniors, an official said.

The 17-year-old boy fell from the second-floor balcony of the main hostel on August 9 and died the next day in a hospital.

The purpose of the reconstruction by forensic experts of the city police during the day was to ascertain whether he was killed, or if it was a case of suicide or an accident, the officer said.

A team of forensic experts used a dummy in its effort to understand how he fell from the balcony, the officer said.

"The dummy is of equal weight and height that of the deceased boy. It was first pushed from the second-floor balcony of the main hostel in a manner similar to the fall of a human. It was repeated twice to understand if the boy died by suicide or it was an accident," the police officer told PTI.

Forensic experts took various measurements from the spot where the dummy fell, he said, adding, "These will come in handy in our investigation."

The police have been stymied in their investigations so far as those arrested and questioned seemed to have been parroting a previously coached version of the events of that night.

The police reconstructed the scene for the first time a couple of days after the first-year undergraduate student's death and did a repeat reconstruction bringing each of the accused to the spot separately on August 18.

Altogether 13 people, all former and current students of the varsity, were arrested in connection with the boy’s death.

While 12 of them were charged with IPC sections 302 (murder) and 34 (common intention), the 13th person was accused of obstructing and assaulting police personnel (IPC sections 186 and 353) in entering the hostel compound on the night of August 9.

The 17-year-old student of the Bengali department hailed from Bagula in Nadia district. His family alleged he was a victim of ragging as well as sexual harassment.