Namrita’s death: Sindh police record statements of 30 faculty, students

Police arrest two students, send their mobile phones to FIA

HYDERABAD: As the mystery continues to surround the cause of death of a student of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Medical University (SMBBMU) Larkana, district police seem to have untangled a few knots pertaining to the circumstances around the student of Bibi Aseefa Dental College Namrita Chandani's death. A police source informed on Saturday that one of the two arrested students, Mehran Ali Abro, has confessed of his close friendship with Chandani while a faculty member, Associate Professor Amar Lal, has disclosed about finding her under stress.

The police have recorded statements of over 30 faculty members and students so far. However, the police are yet to establish whether the student, whose dead body was found from her hostel room, committed suicide or was killed.

"Abro has told that she proposed to marry him but he refused the proposal," the official said. CCTV footage, recorded two days prior to her death, showed Abro and Chandani sitting in the college premises at 8.55pm.



According to him, Lal informed the police that Chandani visited him a few times and that she always appeared under stress for some reason. The police have also detained another student, Ali Shan Memon, for interrogation. The police are yet to receive the final postmortem report of Chandani.

On Friday, Legal SP Farooque Ahmed Bhutto sent the IMEI numbers of the mobile phones of Abro and Memon to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) for forensic analysis, examination and data retrieval. "...Larkana police have arrested two suspects, Mehran Ali Abro and Ali Shan Memon alias Ali Raza, and forensic examination of their mobile phones will be helpful in the investigation," reads the letter addressed to the FIA.

SMMBMU Vice-Chancellor Dr Anila Attaur Rehman in her initial statement had suggested that the death was likely caused by suicide. But her statement stirred a backlash with most of the protests over Chandani's death, which erupted across the province, demanding her resignation for making an irresponsible statement over a sensitive issue.

Her brother, Dr Vishal Chandani, who is a consultant at Dow University of Health Sciences, said he felt convinced that she had been killed. He contended that the mark left on her neck suggested that she was strangulated with some cable. However, the police only found a dupatta around her neck.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 22^nd, 2019.