The Larkana district and sessions judge will initiate on September 27 a judicial probe into the death of Nimrita Chandani — a BDS final year student at Bibi Aseefa Dental College (BADC) who was found dead in her hostel room two weeks ago — after the Sindh High Court (SHC) on Wednesday granted permission in this regard.

The judge had sought permission following a letter written to him by the Sindh government, seeking a judicial probe into the matter.

Larkana Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Irfan Ali Baloch confirmed the development to Dawn. The officer said that Larkana SSP Masood Bangash and he held a meeting today with the judge.

"It was decided that the judge will start the process of judicial inquiry on Friday,” he added.

The DIG said that Bangash would share his findings in the case with the judge and submit relevant reports involving students and other aspects during the inquiry proceedings.

He said that the judge is likely to visit the hostel room, from where the body had been recovered. He further said that forensic reports of cell phones and laptops taken into custody by police would also be shared with the judge.

On September 16, Nimrita was found dead in her hostel room in mysterious circumstances. Police presumed that she had committed suicide. However, her family members, as well as Hindu community leaders, insisted that she was killed and demanded a joint investigation team (JIT) be formed to probe her death.

Nimrita's brother Dr Vishal, a medical consultant in Dow Medical College in Karachi, had told the media that the marks around her neck suggested that she had not committed suicide. He had further claimed that the marks on her neck looked like those made by cable wires, while the wounds on her arms suggested that someone was holding her down.

On September 17, Larkana police detained two students from the dental college attended by Nimrita. According to police sources, the two students are batchmates of the girl.

A source said, "They are being interrogated and their cell phones and laptops are being examined." According to a source, one of the two suspects in custody had already deleted around 40 text messages exchanged with the girl on his cell phone. However, an examination of the girl's phone revealed those conversations, he had added.

On September 18, the Sindh government requested the sessions court of Larkana to hold a judicial probe into the death. Section Officer Aijaz Ali Bhatti wrote a letter to the district and sessions judge, requesting that a judicial inquiry be held in the matter. The letter also directed Larkana's deputy commissioner and SSP to "extend all possible cooperation in the [conducting] of judicial inquiry".

On September 22, the judge appeared reluctant to hold the judicial inquiry into the mysterious death. It was learnt that one objection on the part of the judge was that the home department had directly made the request to him [the sessions judge] whereas the SHC registrar should have issued such a directive to him.