IMPHAL, February 8: The family of a 21 year old student from the state, who was found dead in a suspicious manner at Maharashtra on November 19, 2013 has appealed to the Manipur government to intervene and pressurise its Maharashtra counterpart to find the actual cause of the death.
Father of the deceased student today called a press conference at the Manipur Press Club with the appeal today.
KH Dihe of Makhreilui Village, Senapati told media persons, his son D Heshu Bernade was admitted at the Manoharbhai Patel Institute of Engineering Technology, MEIT Gondia Maharastra in the year 2012 as a B Tech, Computer Science student after getting through the AIEEE.
On November 19, last year around 8am, the warden of the hostel where his son was staying informed them that his son met with an accident.
However, after a few minutes they were again informed that D Heshu Bernade had tried to kill himself using a fruit knife and succumbed to his injuries, he said.
He further asserted that on reaching the college, the family members were told by some students that D Heshu Bernade was last seen on November 18 last, and had dinner alone in his room around 8pm.
Meanwhile, students of the college had told the family that on November 19, his body was found around 8am inside the toilet, whereas the warden had called the family around 9am and told about an accident, he further said.
The family was also told that he was found dead inside a toilet in a kneeling position, holding his mobile phone and with his head leaning on the wall, the father lamented.
When he and the other family members inspected the toilet, where D Heshu Bernade’s body was recovered, they could observe that it is a shared toilet, the father continued.
Blood splatters were also seen around the place and a portion of the door was also found broken, he said before adding parts of the floor were damaged.
Bernade’s body had deep cut marks on the neck, with prominent thumb impression marks on the cheek which are clear indications that he was tortured, he alleged.
He also said that the post mortem was done without the knowledge of the parents and guardian.
The warden had also cautioned them against opening the closely wrapped-up body, he further said.
Speculating involvement of others in the incident, he said that his son might have been killed someplace else and then later posted at the toilet and made it look like a suicide.
He further continued that the detail police, post mortem report and the institutional materials are still awaited.
He further appealed to civil organisations, student bodies, and other governmental agencies to help curb the repeated occurrence of such incidents.