Murder-suicide at Shiv Nadar university | Woman complained in March of harassment by accused, college counselled them: Police

In a 23-minute video recorded purportedly before the incident, Anuj had said she had filed complaints against him with college authorities stating that he was harassing her. SHO of Dadri police station Sujit Kumar Upadhyay said the woman had sent an email to the university in March stating that Anuj was allegedly harassing her. The university had called the duo for a counselling session after which they allegedly seemed to have reconciled, he said.

Police said Sneha had not spoken about this to her parents.

Police said they are also probing how Anuj came to possess a country-made pistol — the murder weapon — and smuggled it inside the university. “There is serious negligence on the part of the varsity,” said a police officer.

Police said the university gave differing statements during the investigation. “They initially said it was a case of dog bite, and refused to cooperate with the probe at first,” the officer said.

However, the university spokesperson denied the allegations. “The victim was first spotted lying on the ground by some of the students. Since none of them knew what was happening, they didn’t realise that she had been shot. Within a few minutes, a doctor at the site (campus health centre) identified bullet wounds as the cause of injury. We had narrated this to the police clearly. At no point did the university authorities try to mislead or misinform any officials regarding the cause of the death,” he said.

Sneha was later taken to a private hospital, where she was declared dead on arrival.

Asked why Anuj was not kept under the watch of authorities after he allegedly shot Sneha, the spokesperson said they got an email from him titled ‘Suicide Note’ at 1.20 pm. “On receiving the note, the administrative head immediately initiated a hostel-wide concerted effort to locate Anuj. All possible resources were mobilised and he was found lying unconscious within 10 minutes from the time of being first reported,” he said.

The spokesperson also said a high-profile committee has been formed to probe the incident and how the student got the gun and brought it to campus.

Police said an FIR has not been registered yet since a complaint was not filed. “We will record statements of witnesses and file an FIR as and when we get the complaint,” said police.

Police said Anuj’s phone has been recovered but they have not managed to unlock it.

Meanwhile, a day after the incident, the campus wore a deserted look. Arham, a first-year engineering student, said: “The convocation has been cancelled, everyone has been asked to return home.” An official from the college administration said the convocation has been postponed and the date is yet to be decided.