CBI deputy inspector-general Neerja Gotu (left) coming out from the Sonnet hotel in Jamshedpur on Saturday. Picture by Srinivas

Jamshedpur, April 16: A special CBI team arrived in the city from Delhi yesterday to probe the mysterious death of a trainee airhostess two years ago.

The six-member team, including a joint director, deputy inspector general, a deputy superintendent and two inspectors, visited The Sonnet Hotel in Bistupur, where Mousumi Choudhury suffered fatal injuries in the laundry room on May 9, 2009, and died four days later at Tata Main Hospital.

Though the officers refused to talk, they are believed to have quizzed the hotel’s management and some staff members.

The team kept its visit under wraps and even the local police were not informed about the arrival. “We have no information about a visiting CBI team. No one has approached us,” said a senior officer of Bistupur police station.

Deputy inspector general Neerja Gotu said it was a new team, which was investigating Mousumi’s death. “According to the Supreme Court’s directive, we have to submit a report in three months,” she added. Gotu refused to comment when asked if the team would be meeting Tapasi Choudhury, Mousumi’s mother.

According to a source, the investigating team will be in the steel city for over a week. Doctors, the management and staff of the hotel as well as Tapasi will be interrogated.

Mousumi’s death left behind a string of unanswered questions. The aspiring airhostess was a student of Airhostess Academy and sustained serious injuries while undergoing training at The Sonnet Hotel.

With the hospitality part of the training concluded, Mousumi moved to train in the laundry section. On the first day of training, Mousumi was watching how a roller press worked. She bent down to get a better look and her scarf got stuck in the roller, throttling her.

Hotel staff present in the laundry room managed to free Mousumi but by then she had suffered severe injuries on her neck and face. She was rushed to Tata Main Hospital where she was admitted in the critical care unit. She died four days later.

Following her death on May 13, the Bistupur police registered a case of accidental death. However, Mousumi’s mother approached the then high court Chief Justice Gyan Sudha Mishra with the plea that her daughter was murdered.

Taking note of it, the high court asked the CBI to probe the case. In the report submitted to the court, the investigating agency also concluded that Mousumi’s death was an accident.

Later, the deceased’s mother challenged the CBI report in the Supreme Court. A division bench of Justice G.S. Singhvi and Ashok Kumar directed the CBI to register a case of murder and start fresh investigations. The bench also ordered a new CBI team to take up the case.