JU student death: Post-mortem indicates 'drowning', parents allege murder in police complaint

KOLKATA: Parents of a Jadavpur University student, who died after falling into a pond inside the campus last week, on Monday lodged a complaint with the police claiming that their daughter was murdered. Earlier in the day, they met Kolkata Police Commissioner Manoj Verma and other officers at Lalbazar, the headquarters of the force.

The English Literature student was found unconscious in the pond on the night of September 11 and declared dead at a nearby hospital.

"The parents, in their complaint with the Jadavpur Police Station, alleged that their daughter was murdered . They have mentioned that there were several injury marks on her body. We have started an investigation on the basis of their complaint," the officer said.

“The parents met the police commissioner and other senior officers earlier to consult them regarding their next step," the officer said. Sources said that Verma assured them a speedy investigation into the matter. Meanwhile, investigators questioned three friends of the deceased student, Anamika Mandal, in connection with the case.

On Sunday, four other friends were also questioned. "They are Anamika’s close friends. Among them is a couple who spotted her in the pond, while others took her to a hospital," the officer said. The police were trying to piece together the sequence of events leading up to the night of September 11.

Post-mortem indicates 'drowning'

Post-mortem examination conducted on the girl indicated "drowning" as the primary cause of the girl's death . Following the incident, police had registered a suo motu case and initiated an investigation.

Talking to reporters on Sunday after performing Anamika’s last rites, her father Arnab Mandal said he was puzzled why his daughter, who didn’t know how to swim, would go to the edge of the waterbody inside the campus around 10 pm.

Mandal said a professor handed him her mobile phone and hair clip, but could not identify the student who collected the items from the pondside and deposited them with him.

He said, "I wonder whether Anamika was deliberately pushed into the water by someone. My daughter did not consume alcohol. If she really did that night, someone conspired against her. I want the police to question her friends present at the site on that night."

Meanwhile, the National Commission for Women has taken suo motu cognisance of the incident and wrote to the Kolkata Police commissioner for a thorough investigation. NCW chairperson Vijaya Rahatkar, in a letter to the commissioner, asked for an action-taken report within three days.