Patna: The licence of a private girls’ hostel in Patna will be revoked following the death of a NEET aspirant under suspicious circumstances, Bihar’s director general of police, Vinay Kumar, said on Wednesday, citing serious negligence by the hostel management.
The decision concerns Shambhu Girls’ Hostel in the Chitragupta Nagar area, where the student from Jehanabad district had been staying while preparing for the medical entrance examination. She died last month after being found unconscious in her room. Her family has alleged that she was sexually assaulted and murdered.
Speaking to reporters, Kumar said action would also be taken against the hostel operator, who would be barred from running any other hostel in Patna. “It is the responsibility of the hostel administration to inform the police of any incident, even if it appears minor,” the DGP said. “In this case, there was negligence and an unjustified delay in informing the police. On these grounds, the hostel’s operating licence will be cancelled.”
According to the police, information about the incident reached them from a hospital rather than from the hostel authorities. Kumar said this failure amounted to a serious violation of safety norms, especially given that the hostel housed female students.
The case, which was initially investigated by a special investigation team (SIT), has since been handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation after public pressure and political controversy. The police had earlier described the death as a suspected suicide, but the postmortem report later indicated signs of sexual assault, altering the direction of the investigation.
At a separate press conference on Wednesday, Patna senior superintendent of police Kartikeya K. Sharma outlined the sequence of events as reconstructed by investigators. He said the student arrived in Patna on January 5 and went to her hostel room in the afternoon. She was last seen leaving her room twice to use the bathroom. On the morning of January 6, the warden received no response when she went to wake the student for breakfast. When the student failed to emerge even by the afternoon, the hostel guard broke open the door and found her unconscious.
The student was first admitted to Prabhat Memorial Hospital, where she was treated for four days, before being shifted to Medanta Hospital, where she later died.
The victim’s family has accused the hostel operator and warden of playing a suspicious role and has alleged an attempt to suppress the case. They have demanded an impartial investigation under the supervision of a Supreme Court or high court judge.
The CBI has now taken charge of the probe, and further findings are awaited.
