Seven students of Jadavpur University were summoned on Sunday by the Kolkata Police in connection with the unnatural death of third-year English honours student Anamika Mondal.
Three of them appeared on Sunday for interrogation, sources said.
According to officers, the students who brought Anamika out of the water body on the campus were her close friends and the first to be examined.
“We are also examining the call details of the victim to find out with whom she was in touch before the incident happened,” said an officer of Kolkata Police who is part of the probe team.
Anamika, who had stayed back on the campus to attend Ruhaniyat, a three-day cultural festival organised by the university’s Drama Club, which began on September 10 and was scheduled to conclude on September 12, was found dead in a water body near the UG building inside the campus last Thursday night.
Police sources said CCTV footage shows Anamika going towards the washroom between 10.01pm and 10.20pm.
A team of forensic officials visited the spot to collect samples and to examine the CCTV footage collected by the police.
Deputy commissioner (south suburban division) Bidisha Kalita also visited the spot.
A team of officers was seen measuring the depth of the water body where Anamika drowned and examining the ungrilled portion of the fence, trying to gauge the possibility of Anamika falling through it.
Meanwhile, the National Commission for Women on Sunday wrote to the Kolkata Police commissioner, seeking a thorough and impartial investigation along with forensic examination and post-mortem report over Anamika’s death.
Vijaya Rahatkar, the commission’s chairperson, in her communication, has sought an “enquiry into the role of the university authorities” in ensuring campus safety.
A senior police officer at the city police headquarters said that the police would take the necessary action.
The commission has also sought a timely update for the victim’s family and strict action “if any foul play is found”. “A detailed action taken has been sought within three days,” says a post put out on the commission’s X Handle on Sunday.
The commission has taken a suo motu cognizance of the death and has filed a case.
Archana Mazumdar, a member of the commission who is from Bengal, said: “Be it RG Kar Medical College and Hospital or South Calcutta Law College or Jadavpur University, girl students are unsafe in the academic campuses of Bengal. We want the administration to be accountable. They must explain why students are dying on campuses. In the case of JU, the university administration must tell us whether there were adequate CCTV cameras on the campus. It’s not enough to say that she died by drowning,”.
In late June, Mazumdar, on behalf of the commission, visited South Calcutta Law College in Kasba, where a first-year student was gangraped on June 25 by one former student and two current students, leading to the arrest of the three and a private security guard of the college.