Riti Saha death: Saadhana Hostel warden, Byju's Aakash managers among four held

Visakhapatnam: Police have arrested four people including Saadhana Hostel warden and Byju's Aakash managers in the suspicious death of 17-year-old student Riti Saha from Kolkata.

Those arrested include Gannu Kumari, warden of Saadhana Ladies’ Hostel-II; Etcherla Surya Kumari, owner of Saadhana Ladies’ Hostels; Gangumalla Naga Venkata Durga Ravi Kanth, Assistant Manager (operations) of Aakash Byju’s, Visakhapatnam branch; and Gundu Rajeswara Rao, manager of Aakash Byju’s, Visakhapatnam branch.

Police said their investigation has revealed that the negligence of the four people was the reason for the suicide of the student.

Riti Saha, a native of Netaju Nagar in Kolkata city of West Bengal was enrolled for NEET coaching at Achiver’s College under the supervision of Aakash Byju’s in the city. She stayed at Sadhana Hostel, Dondaparthy.

According to the police, Riti Saha fell from the third floor of her hostel building on July 14 night and died due to Traumatic brain injury (TBI), Hypovolemic shock, and Polytrauma at a corporate hospital on July 16 night.

Initially, Visakhapatnam police registered a case under Section 174 of CrPC (suspicious death). Later it was changed to Section 304 (II) of IPC for further investigation. The case is being jointly investigated by West Bengal CID and AP police.

West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee has ordered the investigation. All the officials who were involved in the case were suspended temporarily after the entry of CID.

Parents allege foul play

Expressing doubts over the investigation, Riti Saha’s father Sukdev Saha alleged foul play in his daughter’s death. He had approached Andhra Pradesh High Court seeking a fair probe. The court has appointed an advocate commissioner, who has submitted his report.

"At 10:20 pm, a girl was going upstairs and the girl had fallen and had different clothes. There is no record of Riti Saha going upstairs," the family said referring to CCTV footage.

Vizag Commissioner of Police CM Thrivikram Varma said Riti Saha’s death was a suicide and there was no evidence of murder. The FSL has examined the CCTV footage of the incident and stated that it was a suicide, he added.

What did the management say?

In a press meeting earlier, Saadhana Hostel management said Riti Saha had been suspended once before for inappropriate behavior and complaints from her roommates. She was also caught jumping off the terrace of the hostel.

"The management informed her father about this, and they decided to suspend her. She was allowed to rejoin the hostel four months ago at her father’s request. She was suspended from her newly joined hostel for similar reasons. We recently learned that Riti had been fighting with her hostel mates for three days before her death. In our inquiry, we learned that the fight was about her parents," said the hostel management.