Body of IIT Kharagpur student exhumed; family alleges institute influencing probe

GUWAHATI — The family of former IIT Kharagpur student Faizan Ahmed, whose body was exhumed by a special team of officers for a second post-mortem following a court order, alleged that the institute has been trying to influence the investigation.

Ahmed, a mechanical engineering student was found dead in the hostel of IIT Kharagpur on October 14 last year. The authority of the institute claimed that he died by suicide, while the Ahmed’s family alleged that he was killed.

The family filed a petition in the Calcutta High Court over his unnatural death.

Ahmed was a resident of Assam’s Dibrugarh district.

Recently, the Calcutta High Court ordered the exhumation of the body and a second-post-mortem. After his family gave their consent, Faizan Ahmed’s body was exhumed on Tuesday.

In the presence of a four-member police team from the Kharagpur Town police station in West Bengal, forensics experts from the Assam Medical College and Gauhati Medical College performed the exhumation procedure at the Amolapatty burial place in Dibrugarh town.

The family of the late student, the local police, and magistrate Gautam Priya Mahanta were also present.

The corpse was deposited in the mortuary in Dibrugarh for the night.

On Wednesday, it was taken to Kolkata by the special team officers accompanied by Ahmed’s family.

Meanwhile, it is learnt that a team from IIT Kharagpur was also insistent to be present during the exhumation process, but the family of the deceased student resisted strongly.

The family members told reporters here, “IIT Kharagpur authorities have been trying to derail the investigation.”

Notably, the decomposed body of 23-year-old Faizan Ahmed, was found in room C-205 of the Lala Lajpat Rai Hall of Residence in the institute premises on October 14 last year.

Two days later, his body was buried at the Amolapatty burial ground in Dibrugarh town.