Teenage girl found dead in Tiljala ashram hostel

KOLKATA: A 17-year-old girl was found dead on Wednesday morning in a hostel run by the Ananda Marga, police said. The bizarre way in which the body was discovered - lying half-in and half-out of a window in her ground-floor room - triggered rumours of an assault by co-boarders.
Angry locals gheraoed the hostel - at Tiljala's Panchannagram off EM Bypass - and blocked policemen as they tried to remove the body for autopsy.The mob threw stones at the hostel as well.
The victim is Krishna Das, a native of Salsalabari village in Alipurduar, North Bengal, said a police officer.
The Ananda Marga authorities said Krishna was married in her early teens and took refuge with the Ananda Marga later. She had been in the hostel since February 26, 2011, they say.
"Krishna Das was suffering from a mental problem and was undergoing treatment," said an Ananda Marga spokesperson, adding that the girl had "suddenly gone missing on April 28" and returned to the hostel on May 1. Within hours, she was dead.
Tiljala police said that they got a call from the hostel in the afternoon that a girl had died in her room. By then, news had spread in the locality and angry residents barricaded police, blaming the hostel authorities for the death.
When police entered the room, they saw Krishna's legs dangling outside a window and the rest of her body inside the room.
Locals alleged that the girl was beaten up by some other residents of the hostel. Locals confronted police on this and wouldn't let them take the body. The Ananda Marga spokesperson denied the allegation.
However, police said that no external marks of injury had been found on her body. "We will be able to confirm the cause of death after we get the post-mortem report," said Pallav Kanti Ghosh, joint commissioner, crime.
Police confirmed that the hostel authority had lodged a missing person's complaint on April 28 and also informed them of the girl's return on May 1.
Preliminary probe has revealed that Krishna was infected with chicken pox at the time she returned to the hostel. "We are probing all aspects of the case. We are trying to find out where the girl was during the three days she was missing from the hostel. She may have suffered some internal injuries during this period that may have led to her death," said an investigator.