IIM student death: SIT unable to crack phone password

Ranchi: A special investigating team (SIT) formed to probe the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Ranchi student Shivam Kumar Pandey’s death in his hostel has hit a technical roadblock.
Shivam was found hanging in his room on the fifth floor of the institute’s hostel under mysterious circumstances on Monday night. Based on the suspicion raised by his father, police registered a case of murder and started an investigation. Sources said the police are currently unable to crack the password and pattern lock on Shivam’s mobile phone. They are trying to contact the student’s friends and relatives to learn about the pattern but have not achieved much success. When the SIT contacted the police technical wing, the experts said much of the data would be lost if the phone is opened by other means. Notably, police hope to get clues regarding the case from the messages on the phone. The SIT is depending on the call detail records of the phone. Moreover, police had planned to find out when Shivam came back to his room on Sunday night. The CCTV cameras, however, are only at the entry and exit points of the floor and they do not cover his room. SP (city) Naushad Alam said they are working on the case and are yet to receive the autopsy report.