JU student death: Initial police probe reveals sexual molestation, ragging
Kolkata (PTI): The deceased first-year student of Jadavpur University was paraded naked in the corridor of the main hostel's second floor, minutes before he fell off from there and died, Kolkata Police's initial probe has revealed.
Investigators have also found that the teen was "sexually molested" and the arrested 12 people, including present and former students of the varsity, "had played active roles" in the entire episode, leading to the Nadia teen's death, a senior police officer said on Tuesday.
"The teen was definitely ragged and sexually molested. He was paraded naked in the corridor after he was forced to undress in room no. 70. We have evidence," the officer told PTI.
Kolkata Police investigators have got hold of a WhatsApp group created by one of the arrested accused, he said, adding, it was done to "misdirect cops".
"Probe also revealed that those arrested had planned to misdirect police so that the ragging part could be concealed," the officer said.
On Tuesday, police questioned the cook of the hostel to find out more about the August 9 incident, he said.
Two other students of the varsity have been summoned to appear before the investigators for questioning in connection with the probe.
The teen died after falling from the second-floor balcony of the main boys' hostel near the campus on the night of August 9.
His family has alleged he was a victim of ragging and sexual molestation.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
