Plaint letter written by JU ragging victim, confirms handwriting expert
Times of India | 21 September 2024
Kolkata: The 17-year-old Bengali first-year students found unconscious at the JU Main Hostel on Aug 9 last year, and eventually died at hospital, had indeed been forced to write a fake complaint letter by the accused seniors hours before his death.
A handwriting expert, appearing as state witness, has confirmed that the contents of the letter (seized by police as one of the most crucial pieces of evidence) were indeed written by the deceased.The cross-examination of the handwriting expert is likely on Oct 4.
So far, five witnesses have appeared in the court ever since lawyer Bivas Chatterjee was appointed as the special public prosecutor this Aug. Among them, claimed sources, are the autopsy surgeon, the emergency doctor and the ICU doctor who attended to the victim and the manager-cum-record keeper of the hospital.
According to police sources who prepared the charge sheet, main accused Sourav Chowdhury had taken the victim to room 104 of the hostel from a tea stall where the other accused were present and asked him to write a false complaint letter against his Bengali department senior. He was asked to write that the senior — from a rival student union — had spoken ill about the hostel boarders and was trying to drill fear into him that they would force him to jump. He was asked to sign the letter barely 48 hours after his arrival at the hostel.
According to police claims, for the next four-and-a-half hours, at least one of the 12 JU students arrested so far by the police stayed put with him, torturing him mentally.
The chargesheet had been placed at the local Pocso court on Oct 19 last year. “The charges were framed under IPC section 305 along with IPC 34. If convicted, the accused can be sentenced to death or life imprisonment. The cops have also charged the accused under sections 10, 12 and 17 of the Pocso Act and under Section 4 of the West Bengal Prohibition of Ragging in Educational Institutions, 2020, Act. All the accused are in judicial custody.