GMCH hostel no. 1. Picture by UB Photos

Sept. 5: Three months after GMCH junior doctor Pritam Kumar Das lodged an FIR at Bhangagarh police station reporting theft of his laptop, police today began a fresh probe to identify the thief and the source of an MMS involving his girlfriend that had allegedly prompted the 29-year-old to take his own life on Monday.

The police action has, however, invited criticism from his colleagues, who feel that Pritam may not have taken the extreme step had this action been initiated earlier.

Pritam, who was doing his post-graduate studies in paediatrics, committed suicide by injecting an unknown chemical into his body and was found dead in his room in hostel 1 of the college at Bhangagarh. He was from Ananda Nagar in Upper Assam’s Tinsukia district.

“He was disturbed since his laptop was stolen from the hostel and had immediately lodged an FIR at Bhangagarh police station. A few weeks later, we came to know that some intimate photographs and MMS clippings of Pritam and his girlfriend were being circulated outside and he was very worried. We came to know that the photographs and videos being circulated had been stored in the stolen laptop. The police did not act on his complaint or try to recover his laptop. It is disgusting to see that the police have begun a probe now, after he ended his life,” one of Pritam’s colleagues said today.

His colleague also alleged that the police were sitting on many other FIRs lodged by doctors and medical students after their laptops were stolen from the hostel or the medical college. “There have been several incidents of criminals barging into hostels and taking away laptops and mobile phones but not a single laptop has been found by the police even after formal complaints were lodged by students and doctors. A similar incident may take place again, as laptops and mobile phones are very personal gadgets and contain private material.”

Sources in Bhangagarh police station confirmed that Pritam had lodged an FIR in June after his laptop was stolen.

“We had questioned a few people soon after the FIR was lodged but we could not recover the laptop. Since some his colleagues told us that Pritam had died after an MMS containing images and clippings from his stolen laptop was leaked, we are trying to identify who had stolen the laptop and find out how the MMS became public. But so far, we have not received any breakthrough in the case,” an officer at the police station said.

Sources said the police began the fresh probe into Pritam’s FIR after his family lodged an FIR yesterday seeking proper investigation into his death to identify the factors that forced the young doctor to end his life.

Sources said Pritam was very depressed after the MMS was circulated, as this had created problems in his relationship with his girlfriend with whom he was supposed to get married soon.