CHENNAI: A 19-year-old engineering student of a private institute in Potheri, who was investigated and let off by Tambaram police during their raid on Saturday, died by suicide on Tuesday night, police said.
The deceased was identified as Nikhil Srinivasa Konda (21) from Telangana, police said. He was one of the 20-odd students who were reprimanded by the institute after around 1,000 cops raided the apartment complex near the institute where students live, a police source said. Police confirmed that though cases were registered against some of the students, the boy was not among them.
He was detained briefly and was allowed to leave after giving a statement. However, the institute informed his parents about the investigation since his name was on the list of students available with them, according to the police.
The source said he committed suicide while speaking to his parents on the phone, adding that he had not been attending classes out of shame for the past two days. His body was sent for postmortem to the Chengalpattu government hospital. Leader of Opposition Edappadi K Palaniswami in a statement on Wednesday said he was saddened by the news. He urged the DMK government to allow the police to work independently and eradicate the menace of drugs in Tamil Nadu to protect students.
(Assistance for those having suicidal thoughts is available on TN’s health helpline 104 and Sneha’s suicide prevention helpline 044-24640050)