BENGALURU: A 28-year-old woman software engineer, committed suicide by jumping from the ninth floor flat in an upscale apartment complex in Marathahalli on Saturday morning.
Ankita Soni, a resident of Bellandur, was working with PwC, a company on Outer Ring Road. She is said to have been depressed and anxious the night before her suicide. “Ankita jumped from the balcony of her friend Poorva’s flat at 5.30am. The others in the flat at the Purva Fountain Square on Varthur Main Road were asleep,” police said.
Ankita, a native of Himachal Pradesh, was unmarried and had been working in the city for one year now. She was staying at a flat in Bellandur.
Her friend Poorva, whose husband had gone to Pune on work, had come to stay over at Ankita’s place on Thursday night. On Friday the two came back to Poorva’s house together.
Poorva told police that Ankita was struggling with anxiety and had called her uncle Manish Soni, who stays in Mumbai. Sensing danger, Manish had flown down to the city on Friday. Manish and Poorva spoke to Ankita from about 10 pm to 12 pm, consoling her through the night. The three of them later retired to bed. Poorva said that Ankita was talking on the phone to her friend after that for a long time, all the while pacing about the house.
Around 5.30 am, she jumped off from the balcony of the flat and fell on the canopy of the flat on the ground floor.
Before jumping, Ankita had kept her mobile phone away. The apartment’s maintenance staff heard a loud thud and came to know of her fall.
She was rushed to Columbia Asia Hospital in Whitefield where she was declared dead at 8.45 am, police said.
Police said that they were informed about the incident by the hospital staff members. “Ankita’s uncle, Poorva and her husband came around 11 am and registered a complaint with us,” a police source added.
Investigations revealed that Ankita was depressed due to personal reasons. Police said this could be the reason for the suicide.
“We have searched the flat for a death note, but did not find any. We have secured Ankita’s laptop and mobile phone which have security passwords that we have not cracked yet,” the police source said.
A case of unnatural death has been registered at the HAL police station.
Professional Stress
Experts say software professionals are vulnerable to mental health issues due to their high-pressure, target-oriented jobs.
In the Past
December 3, 2015: Shashi Kumar, a 35-year- old IT professional committed suicide by hanging himself at his residence in Indiranagar
October 9 2015: D K Arpitha, hailing from Maddur, a 26-year-old IT professional, committed suicide in her residence in Jayanagar
December 4, 2015: Krishna Balasubramanium, an employee of Societe Generale Global Solution in ITPB, Whitefield Road, committed suicide by jumping from the fourth floor of a building