Murder in IIT? How a student's mother refused to believe her son's 'suicide'

"I was saying this from the beginning, my son was never a failure….I am now satisfied that I was able to remove that stain from my child’s name… that he gave up, that he committed suicide. I knew that he was strong but these people insisted that he committed suicide. I have full faith in the Honorable HC and my lawyer that my son will now get justice."That was Rehana Ahmed, the mother of IIT Kharagpur student Faizan Ahmed whose body was discovered in his hostel room on October 14, 2022. Rehana was told that Faizan had died by suicide because he was unable to cope with the academic pressure. The mother refused to believe it. The family moved Calcutta High Court. The high court-appointed forensic expert, A K Gupta, told the court in a report on Tuesday that Faizan Ahmed could have been murdered.Who was Faizan Ahmed?Faizan was a 23-year-old mechanical engineering student who was allotted room C-205 of IIT Kharagpur's Lala Lajpat Rai Hostel. His decomposed body was found on October 14, 2022. It was dubbed a suicide, but Faizan's family, which lives in Assam's Tinsukia district, firmly believes that he was a victim of foul play. Asked why she felt that her son was murdered, this is what Faizan’s mother, Rehana Ahmed, shared with Times Special: "When I reached the hospital, I can’t even explain the condition in which his body was kept. There was blood everywhere. They had kept his body in a plastic bag near the door. Even my slipper got soaked in blood. His entire body was covered in blood. I asked where did all the blood come from? "No substance was found from his stomach, he did not hang himself, there was not even a single cut on his hand… how was it a suicide then?"Rehana also shared that Faizan’s face and hand had turned black, which is one of the reasons why the Calcutta High Court ordered for a second post-mortem to be conducted – after noticing lapses in the earlier one which was done in October last year. Faizan's head also had multiple hammer injuries, which the second autopsy report has confirmed. Rehana alleged that the police did not properly capture photos of Faizan’s body and that there was no recorded photo of his chest and the back of his head. All these scenarios raised suspicion. Faizan Ahmed was ragged: MotherIt has been about nine months since Faizan died, or was killed. He comes from an ordinary family. His father runs a small shop of second-hand motor parts and his mother is a housewife. She earlier ran a canteen in a nearby college. Now, Rehana is left with memories of a son who just wanted to fly higher on the wings of his dream."Last year when he came during the summer vacation, he asked me, Mumma, I want to study further, do you have any objections? I told him that we are always with him. Make your dream come true. He then told me that he may have to opt for a loan for further studies and wanted us to open his bank account. So, we did that in case he needed a loan in the future," Rehana remembered."Now we got to know that even his phone was snatched because of ragging. They also made him kneel down. But he still stayed in IIT only for his career and studies. We saw photos on Google, the photo of him being made to kneel down was circulated on the Internet. I used to ask him if there was any trouble. He simply answered that 'Mumma I am an adult now you don't have to worry. You worry too much. We enjoy it a lot, we go out to eat also.'"Worry about deaths in IITsDeaths in India’s preeminent educational institutions have become a source of concern. On March 15, 2023, the Union government said in Parliament that 33 students had died by suicide in the premier Indian Institutes of Technology, or IITs, in the 63 months since 2018. The figure for NITs was 24 in the same period, and four for IIMs. Millions of students dream of getting into these institutes. Students take multiple-year gaps and study hard to crack these admission tests. Parents, too, spare no expense for their kids’ coaching and education fees. And Faizan’s family is no exception. "Whatever savings and jewellery we had, we spent on our son's education. Thinking that he'll succeed one day. And when he was so close to it, someone just killed him," Rehana said. The Calcutta High Court has sought the viscera report after a police report mentioned “a chemical called emplura (sodium nitrate) in a bottle” had been seized from the spot where Faizan's body had been found. The HC also indicated that it may explore setting up a special investigation team to probe the case. Rehana firmly wants a special team to investigate as she has lost faith in the local police. Hearings in the case are still on, Rehana's fight is still not over. Voice: Surjan SinghAudio production: Prateek Kapoor