Following the incident, a section of students at VBU staged a protest outside the vice-chancellor’s residence on Friday night and broke the outer gate. THE FATHER of a 17-year-old student who was found dead in his hostel room on Friday morning has once again demanded a CBI inquiry into his son’s death and also sought strong action against Visva-Bharati University (VBU) officials, including vice-chancellor Bidyut Chakraborty.
“My son was beaten up. He did not die by suicide. How could the vice-chancellor say that my son died by suicide? Action must be taken against everyone who is responsible for the death of my son. If a CBI probe can find out the truth then that should be held,” said Sanjib Das, father of the class 12 student.
Reacting to the development, VBU Vice-Chancellor Bidyut Chakraborty said, “This is a tragic incident and we fully sympathise with the family. The university has extended all help to the family. We are also trying to find out how the student died.”
On Friday, a class 12 student of ‘Patha Bhavana’, a school run by VBU, was found dead in his hostel room. A varsity official said the student, hailing from Nanur in Birbhum district, was found lying motionless in his hostel room and was taken to Pearson Memorial Hospital at Santiniketan where the doctors declared him dead.
The body was then sent to Bolpur sub-divisional hospital for post-mortem.
The 17-year-old student’s father filed a complaint at Santiniketan Police Station alleging that there was an attempt by the university to suppress facts as his son was murdered. The university authorities have launched an inquiry to find out the circumstances behind the student’s death.
Following the incident, a section of students at VBU staged a protest outside the vice-chancellor’s residence on Friday night and broke the outer gate. The incident prompted Vice-Chancellor Bidyut Chakraborty to send an urgent message to the police seeking protection.
Also on Friday night, West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar tweeted that the VBU VC had sent an urgent message to the chief superintendent of police citing a threat to his life.
“VC Vishwa Bharati message sent to CS for intervention, ‘Kindly send security. My life is at risk. The agitators have broken the main gate and an untoward incident is likely to happen if you don’t send police protection for me. It is an SOS. Bidyut Chakrabarty’, CS response, ‘Sir, I have got the information. Have alerted DGP ,DM and SP .Will follow up. Regards,” Dhankhar tweeted.
Following the protest, police personnel were sent outside the VC’s residence on campus. Three persons were detained in connection with the incident.
The students later withdrew their protest while criticising the VC for not meeting the father of the class 12 student.
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