WITH THE possibility of a fresh autopsy after exhumation still not ruled out by the CBI, Rukbanur elder brother of Rizwanur Rehman has demanded that his grave be guarded.

 

More details coming to light, like purported SMS text messages, telephone calls to and from Rizwanur to colleagues, students, Priyanka and the Todis before he died, conflicting statements by the driver of a local, train, the involvement of realtors and muscle, offers of large sums of money and warning calls from Priyanka to her husband to lie low, have created a puzzling mosaic for the CBI investigating the mysterious death of the young graphic designer.

 

On Sunday a part time teacher at the Arena Muktimedia, Alpana Joli told the CBI that she had received a SMS from Rizwanur, which said ‘awaz uthana’. She said unable to understand, she had deleted the message. When she arrived at her work place and only when news of Rizwanur’s death reached Arena Multimedia did she tell her colleagues that she had received a SMS. They then concluded that he must have tied to write mere (jaane ke baad) awaz uthana. She told the Kolkata media today that that Rizwanur used to teach her at one stage and was a good member of the faculty. She said she did not know Priyanka and had no idea that the two were in love and had married.

 

There is a growing demand in Kolkata by civil society groups and the Rehman family that the CBI interrogate the police officers who had threatened and harassed the couple. Their contention is that many people have been questioned over a week but the police officers, who had no business interfering in the marriage of two adults have not yet been summoned by the CBI, though the CID had questioned them and concluded that their intervention was both illegal and unnecessary. The four police officers had accepted false cases from the Todis, harassed and threatened the couple at the family’s behest. The CBI has said that the Calcutta High Court had given the agency two months for the investigations and they are in no hurry.

 

With the media also having launched a parallel probe into the mysterious death alongside the CBI, lots of details are surfacing making the case more contentious by the day. Rizwanur, who had not been staying at his home after Priyanka was forced to leave him, for fear of arrest, was warned by his wife that her father Ashok Todi could send toughs after him. The call came on September 8 and was brief because she was afraid her phone was being tapped. She also told him the police might frame him on false charges, CBI officials have said. The call came when the graphics designer was at colleague Swapnil Sengupta’s home.

 

Rizwanur spent the nights from September 8 till the day he died on September 21 with several colleagues, the CBI probe has revealed. He kept changing the place where he stayed afraid of being attacked by criminal elements or arrested by the police.

 

Rizwanur spent two nights at Swapnil Sengupta’s home, three at Arup Guha’s and another two with Debraj Banerjee. All three were colleagues.

 

In a tragic tale of doomed love, Prkyanka was said to have asked Rizwnaur how long he could wait for her return. “For my entire life,” he was said to have replied. Swapnil overheard the conversation.

 

On the fateful day he called Swapnil twice. The first call was from a telephone booth and the second from his cell phone at 10.15 a.m. He promised to call him a third time after he finished talking to somebody on something important. The call came never came for he died soon after. The CBI is trying to find out whom he had met minutes before his death. His colleague, however, got the distinct impression he was determined to fight to get his wife back. There was no trace of depression in his voice.

 

The CBI is now trying to figure how out why he had gone to Patipukur where he was found dead.