CHENNAI: A 22-year-old post-graduate engineering student of IIT-Madras went missing from her hostel room on the campus on Sunday leaving behind a note, addressed to her father and a friend, that she is headed to the Himalayas to lead a spiritual life, police said.
P Prathyusha, pursuing an MS in Engineering Design, hails from Anantapur in Andhra Pradesh. She was staying at Sabarmati hostel on the campus. According to a statement from the institute, she checked out of the hostel during the early hours of Sunday. A complaint was filed with the local police on Monday based on the request of the student’s parents since she did not reach her hometown, said the IIT-M statement.
Kotturpuram police, who registered an FIR, recovered two letters from her hostel room. “One was addressed to her father and another to her close friend. She had mentioned her fondness for International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) and her wish to explore more about her spiritual leanings,” an investigating officer told Express. “She is remembered as someone who talked about spiritual interests and often visited the ISKCON temple on ECR,” said the officer.
Meanwhile, it was found that Prathyusha had filled in the permission register before leaving the hostel, in which she had mentioned that she would return by January 20.