West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday blamed the Left student unions for the death of a first-year student at Jadavpur University (JU) in Kolkata earlier this month. West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee addressing a gathering of Muslim leaders in Kolkata on Monday. (ANI)

“We used to feel proud about JU. We still do. But we saw how Left student unions killed the student. The situation hasn’t changed. They won’t change,” Banerjee said while addressing a gathering of Muslim leaders in Kolkata.

This is, however, not the first time that the Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo has attacked the Communist Party of India (Marxist) or CPI(M) and Left-backed student unions over the student’s death in JU.

“I called the victim’s parents. His father told me that his son used to cry over phone and say that he was being tortured. His father never imagined that they would kill his son and throw his body from the balcony. He wants justice. Who are these people. They are Marxists,” Banerjee said while addressing a cultural programme in Kolkata on August 14.

She had also said that she avoids going to any programme in JU.

“The victim was wearing an amulet. He was told that it was ‘Red Fort’ (Left citadel) and forced to open it. They don’t allow police to enter (the campus) or install CCTV. Students are ragged. It is now a terror town. I am hurt and shocked. I usually avoid going to JU. They may be good in studies. But to become a human being, one needs to be humane and have conscience. Not all are bad. I am not blaming the students. But there are some branded CPI(M) supporters. They think it is their right to torture freshers. They strip freshers,” she had said.

JU was adjudged the best university in West Bengal in the National Institutional Ranking Framework 2023 (NIRF 23) rankings. It bagged the fourth position nationally among universities for the second year straight after IISc Bengaluru, JNU Delhi and Jamia Millia Islamia Delhi.

The CPI(M), however, hit back saying that no student unions would support ragging and demanded a thorough police probe into the incident.

“The TMC always tells the truth. We have seen how she blamed the CPI(M) when the Singur project failed. No students’ unions would support ragging. We would request not to play dirty politics. But we have seen how she politicised the issue by blaming the CPI(M) last week. We want a through probe into the incident and the guilty should be punished,” Koustav Chatterjee, CPI(M) leader, told the media.

A first-year student of the university allegedly died by suicide after he was ragged and sexually harassed by some seniors and ex-students. The victim was found lying naked in a pool of blood on the night of August 9. He succumbed in the early hours next day.

Police have already registered a murder case and 13 persons, including former and present students, have been arrested till date. They Are all in police custody now.

On Monday, forensic officials reached the hostel. A dummy was used to recreate the crime scene. Sleuths dropped the dummy from the second floor from where the student allegedly jumped.

“A few more persons who were there in the hostel on August 9 are being questioned. Their mobile phones are being scanned,” said an official.

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