Father raises suspicion over death of Jadavpur University student, police presses murder charges

The father of Jadavpur University student Anamika Mondal, who was found dead in a pond on the campus in Kolkata, filed a police complaint on Monday (September 15, 2025) alleging foul play behind her death. The body was fished out of the pond next to the students union office in the late hours on September 11. The homicide squad, of Detective Department of Kolkata Police, has taken up the investigation and the police has pressed charges of murder and criminal conspiracy.

“This case was recorded on the basis of the complaint submitted by Arnab Mondal (49) ....to the effect that on 11.09.2025 between 21.10 hrs and 22.26 hrs, some unknown persons hatched a criminal conspiracy, and in furtherance to their common intention, committed wilful murder of complainant’s daughter, namely Anamika Mondal, by pushing her into the pond beside the washroom situated inside Jadavpur University Campus near Gate No. 4,” a Kolkata Police official said.

Arnab Mondal, the father, had raised questions over the death, saying that his daughter, a third year English Honours student, did not know how to swim, and why would she go to the edge of the waterbody inside the campus around 10 p.m. Anamika was present at a cultural programme organised by university students on September 11 and had even shared photographs from the event with her mother till 7 p.m.

Conspiracy angle

“I wonder whether Anamika was deliberately pushed into the water by someone. My daughter did not consume alcohol. If she really had that night, someone conspired against her. I want the police to question her friends present at the site on that fateful night,” Mr. Mondal said.

He had earlier met Kolkata Police Commissioner Manoj Kumar Verma and on Monday went to the Jadavpur police station and lodged a complaint. The police have already registered a case of unnatural death and are investigating the incident.

It is reported that CCTV footage of the campus has been collected. A forensic team has also visited the scene. University authorities, including Pro- Vice Chancellor Amitava Datta, said that the place where the student was found dead was not covered under CCTV.

The death has raised questions on the safety and security of students on the university campus. Students under the banner of Students Federation of India (SFI) brought out a procession on the campus on Monday raising concerns about their safety and security.

In 2023, a first-year 17-year-old student was found dead in the boys main hostel on the campus. It was suspected that he was a victim of ragging, which led to his fall from the top floor of the hostel building. There was no CCTV footage available due to lack of cameras.

NCW seeks report

In a related development, National Commission for Women Chairperson Vijaya Rahatkar sent a letter to the Kolkata Police Commissioner, asking for an action-taken report within three days.

“The commission has taken suo motu cognisance of a disturbing media report titled ‘Woman Student Found Dead Inside Jadavpur University’, wherein a 21-year-old third-year English department student was found dead on a campus lake. Hon’ble Chairperson Smt. Vijaya Rahatkar has written to the Commissioner of Police, Kolkata, seeking a thorough and impartial investigation, forensic examination, and post-mortem report, along with an inquiry into the role of university authorities in ensuring campus safety,” the NCW posted on social media.