An ex-student of Jadavpur University was arrested on Friday and charged with murder in connection with the death of first-year student Swapnadeep Kundu on Thursday.
Saurabh Chowdhury, the prime suspect in Swapnadeep’s death, had completed his Masters in Mathematics from the university in 2022, but still shot at the main boys’ hostel, lived there and was unofficially in charge of the hostel mess committee.
The arrest came hours after the Jadavpur police filed an FIR against unidentified persons for murder. According to sources, Sourav was named in the FIR.
Joint CP (Crime) Sankh Subora Chakraborty said, “Swapndeep’s father Ramprasad Kundu submitted a complaint, in which he believes that some boarders of the main hostel are responsible for his son’s death.
A police source said, during interrogation, Sourav denied any wrongdoing but said that he was the one who ensured that Swapnadeep was accommodated in the hostel.
Saurabh met the boy and his father at a tea stall in Jadavpur on August 3, where he was told that Swapnadeep’s name was not on the hostel list. “Saurabh had promised to help Sapnadeep’s father. He said he could stay as a ‘guest’ of a boarder, for which he took Rs 1,000. He said that as head of the mess committee, he could ensure a bed, although the university has no ‘Guest’ policy,” the source added.
On Sunday, Sourav took Swapnadeep to room 108, where a second-year sociology student leave.
There were two others: a second-year economics student and a third-year mechanical engineering student.
Rajat Roy, dean of students, said, “There is no head of the mess committee. “If he took money to accommodate Swapnadeep, it was illegal,” Roy said.
Police said they questioned about 20 boarders. They also recorded the statements of JU officials including Dean Rajoy Roy, Hostel Superintendent Tapan Kumar Jana and Bengali Division Head Jaideep Ghosh.
Roy claimed he received a call from a boarder at 10:05 p.m. Wednesday. “It’s wrong to say I didn’t take the call,” he said. “I received a call from a boarder that a student had been ‘politicized’. He told me that someone told a student that he had to jump off the balcony. I immediately called the hostel superintendent and asked him to identify the caller and look into the matter. Around 11.30 pm, the superintendent called me and told me that someone had fallen down.
I asked him to shift to the hospital as soon as possible. I also rushed to the hospital. Two or three calls came while I was driving, so I couldn’t take those calls.”
The victim’s father, Ramprasad Kundu, said his son’s killers needed to be “eliminated”. He told the police that he strongly believed that Swapnadeep was tortured under the leadership of Sourav. “We decided to bring Swapnadeep back on Friday”. He also said he can’t share everything over the phone.
That night, I called him repeatedly but the phone was disconnected,” said Ramprasad.
