The Kolkata Police were able to arrest 13 people so far who are allegedly involved in the death of a first-year student of Jadavpur University but they are concerned about being misled by the testimonies provided by these arrested people. The police have complained that all the accused are echoing each other's statement and unlike other cases, all their versions are mirroring each other.
Suspecting that the accused have corroborated this version of the story before their testimonies, the police have decided to change their grilling strategy and interrogate them separately to find a 'gap' in their stories.
According to the police, one of the arrested men who is also a student association leader, had made the deceased sign a "fake" complaint against a senior student belonging to a rival body about his involvement in ragging.
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Why did the police change their grilling strategy?
According to PTI, a police officer said that usually, they question the accused of crimes where collective involvement is found by sitting them together. But the police reportedly said, "They (arrested people) are not dreaded criminals, but educated young men. They are not at all cooperating with our officers."
So the police have decided to, "change our strategy and talk to them separately as they are parroting each other. For that reason, we have kept them separately."
According to officials, it appeared that the defendants were coached into telling exactly the same story. In testimony from various witnesses, it is usual to have minor differences in the incident.
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As the accused are trying to deceive the investigators, the police are looking for inconsistencies in what they've said about the 12 persons arrested, who are either former or current students of JU. Besides them, another ex-student was apprehended on Saturday and another has been remanded in police custody till August 24.
According to a PTI report, a few of the arrested accused are in the central lockup at Lalbazar, the Kolkata Police headquarters, while others are at lockups in different police stations.
"These people are constantly trying to mislead us. They are giving us corroborating versions," reportedly said a police officer.
The officer reportedly claimed that it was an "organised crime" and the victim "has probably broken down due to the immense mental trauma" he had to face continuously for two to three days.
Meanwhile, the police on Saturday night arrested one former student of the varsity for allegedly obstructing the police to enter the hostel campus on August 9 night when the 17-year-old boy fell from a second-floor balcony of the main boys' hostel. He died the next day.
The arrested person is a former student of the International Relations department. He was summoned for questioning at Jadavpur Police Station after which he was arrested, the officer added.
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His family alleged he was a victim of ragging as well as sexual molestation.
