NEW DELHI: An 18-year-old athlete, who represented India at the international level, allegedly committed suicide on Tuesday night by hanging himself from a ceiling fan in the hostel of the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, police said.
The athlete, Palender Chaudhary, a native of Aligarh in Uttar Pradesh, was found hanging from the ceiling fan of his hostel room at the athletics academy of the JLN Stadium. He was first taken to the medical centre of the JLNS and was later rushed to the Safdarjung Hospital, where he was declared brain dead and was admitted to the ICU.
The reason for his suicide is yet to be established, the police said as no suicide note was found.
“We received information about the incident at around 9 pm from the Safdarjung hospital. He lived away from home. The family is also not sure why he took the extreme step. An investigation is underway,” said a police officer.
However, according to the Sports Authority of India (SAI), the teenager hanged himself following an argument with his father over money. “He had an argument with his father on Tuesday morning on the phone after which his sister visited him in the evening. He took the step in front of her sister after threatening her. She came out screaming and our staff immediately went there and brought him down,” said Neelam Kapur, Director General, SAI.
“I assured him that I will give him the money after he asked for it. I don’t know what happened later,” Chaudhary’s father Mahesh Pal said.
The SAI has ordered an inquiry. “We have ordered a departmental inquiry as the incident happened in our premises. The inquiry will be headed by secretary SAI Swarn Singh Chabra and it should be completed in a week,” the SAI official said.
With inputs from agencies