Jadavpur University Student Death: Ragging’ claims student life in JU; He asked mother to take him home. Next day, he was dead | Kolkata News

KOLKATA: A first-year student of Jadavpur University (JU) died early Thursday from injuries suffered after a fall from the second-floor balcony of the varsity’s boys’ hostel the previous night, barely two days after moving in on Monday at the start of the academic session.

Swapnodeep Kundu was found a few feet from the building without a stitch of clothing, bolstering claims of his parents and a large section of students that the 18-year-old was a victim of ragging.

Swapnodeep was admitted to the Bengali undergraduate course. The university authorities have set up a probe panel, which will submit a report in two weeks. The cops later said initial probe suggested Swapnodeep had “jumped off” the balcony. However, there are other factors that suggest ragging. Some of his classmates said Swapnodeep had discussed the issue and had wanted to know when the trauma would stop. These classmates had also reported to a teacher that Swapnodeep had told them he had been unable to sleep one night, presumably because of ragging.
Swapnodeep’s father told the cops that Swapnodeep had called up his mother multiple times Wednesday evening and expressed fear for his life and that he wanted to return home in Hanskhali, Nadia. Among other allegations, a social media post by a fellow fresher claimed that Swapnodeep’s death was due to ragging by a few seniors. Some students alleged that Swapnodeep had been made to run on the hostel terrace naked late on Wednesday.

Joint CP (crime) Shankha Shubra Chakrabarty said the teenager had fallen from the second floor of JU main hostel at 11.45pm on Wednesday. He was taken to a private hospital with multiple wounds and died around 4.30am on Thursday. The initial postmortem shows he had suffered fractures and other injuries to the left side of the head, rib and pelvis. He also had fractures on his spine.
According to police, some students said they had called dean Rajat Ray to inform him about Swapnodeep’s “abnormal” behaviour around 10pm, but were told he would address the issue the following morning. Students claimed they had again called Ray an hour later, minutes before Swapnodeep’s death, but their call had gone unanswered. Ray declined to talk to the press.

JU pro-VC Amitava Datta said it was an extremely unfortunate incident. “As of now, we have not received any complaint of ragging. But the committee will look into it,” he said.