Wednesday, November 04, 2009

Puri drowning: Kin cry foul

TNN 2 November 2009, 03:53am IST

KALYANI: The family of Arindam Haldar, who was washed away, along with two others, while bathing in the sea on Saturday, has cried foul, alleging that he was ragged by his seniors.

Arindam's brother, Aniruddha, went to Purbasthali police station in Nadia on Sunday to file an FIR on his brother's death, but police refused to lodge a complaint. "My elder brother was a victim of ragging. We went to lodge a complaint with the Purbasthali police, but they refused to receive it," Aniruddha said.

Aniruddha said that as his brother was afraid of water, it was unlikely that he had gone to bathe in the sea of is own will. "He was afraid even to take bath in a pond," Aniruddha said. "He was ragged and taken to the sea by force. It is a case of murder. He used to face ragging in his hostel occasionally and would inform us at home. But we are not rich enough to have afforded to shift him elsewhere to avoid ragging in the college hostel."

Kalyani Engineering College Principal K K Chakraborty said, however, that the college authorities had never received any complaint about ragging on campus. "Though the Puri trip was not arranged by the college, the authorities were aware of it. It is a common practice for students to go on a tour when they get leave for a few days," he said. About 100 students of the college hostel had gone to Puri on Thursday.

"The students left Puri on Sunday and will be back within 12 hours," Chakraborty said. "The three bodies are also being brought back to their respective homes. Our first priority now is to bring back the other boys safely to the hostel."

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