CID starts probe into Baghmundi incident

Purulia, Aug 3 (UNI) A three-member CID team, led by Superintendent of Police (CID) Sanjay
Singh, arrived here today to investigate into the Baghmundi incident in which three Jadavpore
University students died.

The team went to Bagmundi and visited Dowary canal and inspected the site, where the bodies
of Swati Das, Subhankar Saha and Arundhati Ghosh were found.

They would carry out inspection tomorrow as well.

The team met Superintendent of Police of Purulia district Ashok Kumar Prasad and other police
officials.

The other duo Bappaditya Chatterjee and Kausik Sorkhel are likely to be brought to Purulia by
the CID for interrogation.

The state government ordered a CID inquiry yesterday into the death of three Jadavpur
University students, who went for trekking in Purulia district last week.

Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacherjee had said the government would conduct a thorough
inquiry into the entire incident.

Though clarifying that the probe would be "something bigger" than an ordinary probe by the
Criminal Investigation Department(CID), the Chief Minister had said he had already sought a
transcript of the police interrogation of the two surviving male members of the team.

State Inspector General of Police, Law and Order, Raj Kanojia had said the probe would go
much deeper into the incident to trace whether there was any inter-state or inter-district
connection behind it.

He had said preliminary reports of the probe was expected to be submitted within the next ten
days.

Mr Kanojia had also said the family members of Arundhuti Saha, after tracing her decomposed
body had lodged a formal complaint with the Baghmundi police station against Bappaditya and
Kaushik and demanded a thorough probe into the whole incident, still shrouded in mystery.

The five M.Pharma Jadavpur University students, including two girls, Swati Das and Arundhuti
Ghosh, went for trekking to Banghmundi area of Ayodhya Hills in Purulia district on July 28 and
were allegedly washed away by flash floods at Dowary canal while resting on a small hillock.

Later, the bodies of three members - Swati Das, Subhankar Saha and Arundhati Ghosh - were
found, while Bappaditya and Kaushik had a miraculous escape.

While the bodies of Swati and Subhankar were found the next day (July 29), the highly
decomposed body of Arundhuti was found on Tuesday after three days of extensive search by
police, the villagers and a team of Jadavpur University trekking unit.

Jadavpur University Registrar Rajat Banerjee in a letter to Home Secretary Prasad Ranjan Roy
and state Police Chief Amiya Bhusan Vora had also demanded a thorough investigation into the
incident.

'Porn CD' twist to Baghmundi trek tragedy

KOLKATA: It was supposed to have been a shut case. But two mysterious compact discs,
allegedly of a pornographic nature, have prompted the CID to begin a fresh probe into the
trekking tragedy at Baghmundi in Purulia district last month.

Three members of the Jadavpur University mountaineering and hiking club died while two were
injured. The CDs were sent to the family of Shubhankar Saha — one of the three students who
died in the Ayodhya Hills accident on July 27 — at their home in Dinhata (Cooch Behar) on
Saturday.

They are now in CID's possession. The postage stamp on the parcel indicated it was sent from
Asansol on August 17.

The sender gave his name as "Sushil Saha" and claimed to be a "well-wisher" of Shubhankar. He
even even wrote a letter to Shubhankar's father Shankar, suggesting that the CDs contained
pornographic films.

The family handed them over to Cooch Behar superintendent of police Anil Kumar, who hinted
that the name could be "fictitious".

CID sources suggested it may be a prank. "Prima facie, none of the five Jadavpur University
students features in the CDs. The boy and the girl are different," an officer said.

"Whoever sent it is either a sick person or has a vested motive in the case. We have stepped up
efforts to track him down."
Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, who has been apprised of the development, had earlier
asked CID to probe whether there was any foul play involved.

Such allegations were made after two of the victims — Arundhati Ghosh and Swati Das — were
found almost nude, while Shubhankar was completely dressed. CID had said a flash flood in the
Douri canal caused the tragedy.