GUWAHATI – The last rites of IIT Kharagpur student Faizan Ahmed was performed for the second time in Assam’s Dibrugarh district, officials said on Monday.
Meanwhile, Ahmed’s mother Rahana Ahmed has alleged that her son was subjected to mental and physical harassment at IIT Kharagpur by a group of students before he was murdered. She also accused the authorities of the institute of covering up Faizan’s death.
“My son faced immense physical and mental torture. The senior students ragged him badly in February last year,” Rahana told IANS.
According to Rahana, Faizan loved reading, but other students used to disrupt his studies using various means.
“Sometimes, they switched off the light in his room so that he couldn’t study. But my son loved IIT so much that he did not tell me these things then,” Rahana said.
She added, “My son was brutally tortured before he was hacked to death. He had multiple fractures in his body. We are sure that he was hit by some heavy instruments. I cannot rule out the involvement of some higher officials of IIT Kharagpur behind Faizan’s death. From the beginning, instead of finding the persons responsible for Faizan’s death, the IIT authorities were busy hiding many things.”
According to Rahana, Faizan’s body was kept in chemicals for three days and the family was not informed initially by the authorities.
“I cannot say anything about what punishment the court will give to his killers, but I will continue to ask why they murdered my son,” she said.
Recently, Rahana had written to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for an impartial probe into the matter.
Faizan Ahmed, a native of Tinsukia and a third-year mechanical engineering student, was found dead in the hostel of IIT Kharagpur on October 14 last year. The authorities claimed that he committed suicide, but the family members of Ahmed alleged that he was killed.
The family also filed a petition in the Calcutta High Court over Ahmed’s ‘unnatural’ death. Later, the high court ordered to exhume Ahmed’s body for a second post-mortem.
A senior police officer in Dibrugarh district said that Ahmed was laid to rest for the second time in the Amolapatty burial ground on Saturday night. -IANS
