The peace in Shantiniketan was shattered on Sunday after a girl student of Visva Bharati University was shot dead by a youth inside her hostel room. The young man, who then shot himself, later died at Burdwan Medical College.The incident took place around noon in Ananda Sadan and the girl has been identified as Saswati Pal, a third year Bachelor of Music student. The man has been identified as Amaresh Kundu, a driver attached to Tollygunje police station. He stole a 9-mm pistol of an Additional OC to commit the crime.Saswati and Amaresh are both residents of Ghatal in West Midnapur. “Preliminary investigation points towards a love story,” said Birbhum SP Laksminarayan Meena. According to the police, the youth took revenge after being spurned by the girl. An investigation has been initiated and security inside the Visva Bharati campus tightened. “The University is shocked by the incident. The girl was killed inside her hostel room. The University administration has taken all possible measures to redress the situation with the help of district administration and police,” said deputy registrar Amitava Chowdhury. Around noon, students saw her having an altercation with Amaresh near Black House inside the Sangit Bhawan campus. Minutes later, Saswati returned to her hostel and Amaresh followed her.“Amaresh walked straight to the hostel. There was no guard, he went inside unchallenged. He walked to Saswati’s room,” said a police officer. Amaresh then locked the room from inside. At 12.15 pm, local people heard a gun shot followed by another in quick succession. Other students and hostel employees rushed to the room, forced into it only to find the boy and the girl lying in a pool of blood. The police was called and the two were rushed to Bolpur hospital, where the girl was declared brought dead. Kundu was shifted to Burdwan Medical College where he died around 10:30 pm.
