The family members of Faizan Ahmed, a third-year IIT Kharagpur student from Assam who was found dead in his hostel room on October 14 last year, have expressed displeasure at the progress of the inquiry of the police's Special Investigation Team (SIT) which is yet to submit its final report in the Calcutta High Court. A second post-mortem was conducted on Faizan's body that was exhumed in May on the orders of the High Court which stated that it was “necessary to bring out the truth behind the death”. Speaking over the phone, Faizan's mother Rehana Ahmed said that “their patience is running out and that those responsible for the death of her son must be arrested soon”. "We are not happy with the progress of the SIT probe. They are yet to submit their reports and arrest the ones responsible for the death of my son. It has been more than a year but we are yet to get justice. The court asked them to conduct narco-analysis and serum tests on the suspects. But nothing has been done so far," she added. Faizan, who hailed from Tinsukia in Assam, was a mechanical engineering student. “We are waiting for the SIT to submit its final reports. If we are not satisfied then we will decide whether or not to take a different course of action. We are sure that Faizan was murdered. The court also said it was a homicide. Then what is taking the SIT so long to find out the truth and arrest the culprits?" asked Rehana who had moved the court in November 2022 seeking the formation of an SIT to probe Faizan's death. On June 6, the single bench of Justice Rajasekhar Mantha of the High Court directed the police to invoke Section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code in the case after getting reports of the second post-mortem. The forensic experts presented a report in the High Court stating that Faizan did not commit suicide but was murdered. According to the report, Faizan's death was caused by heavy bleeding and there were head and chest injuries. On June 14, the High Court ordered setting up of the SIT to probe the death. The court also allowed SIT, if necessary, to conduct narco-analysis and a truth serum test on the “witnesses or any persons to throw light on the incident”. The SIT led by Additional Director General ( ADG Headquarters) K Jayaraman was formed to probe the “unnatural death”. On December 18, the SIT submitted its first report before the single bench of Justice Jay Sengupta of the High Court and sought more time to reach a conclusion. The SIT sent two items, including the blood samples of the victim's parents to determine their DNA, to the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL), Chandigarh, and is waiting for the reports to further its probe. In its report, the SIT mentioned that they questioned a few students in this regard. However, neither the names of the students nor the report were shared among the counsels. The court expressed surprise at the way the investigation was being conducted and asked the SIT to submit its probe report by February 6. K Jayaraman, who is heading the SIT, said: "Hopefully we will be able to file a progress report by the next date in the High Court." Aniruddha Mitra, one of the lawyers representing Faizan's family, said, “It has been six months since the SIT was formed but final reports are yet to come. The court is also not satisfied with the investigation process. The court has given the SIT more than a month to submit its final reports. Let us wait for the next day of hearing to find out their findings." The Indian Express tried to reach out to the IIT Kharagpur authorities but did not receive any response. The institute's lawyer RN Majumdar also did not respond to the messages from the newspaper.
