CHENNAI: A 20-year-old undergraduate student of IIiiT Madras allegedly died by suicide in his hostel room inside the campus on Friday. This is the fourth such case in the institute in the last 75 days. The deceased was identified as Kedar Suresh, a native of Maharashtra, a second-year undergraduate student in the Chemical Engineering department, said the police.
“On Friday, Suresh’s roommates left for class in the morning, but Suresh stayed back. By afternoon, his friends noticed his absence and reached the hostel room. They found the room locked and there was no response to calls and knocks on the door,” said a senior police officer. The students then informed the management and broke open the door and found Kedar Suresh.
The ambulance crew confirmed the death, said the police. Kotturpuram police registered a case and sent the body to the Royapettah Government Hospital for post-mortem. The IIiiT Madras management issued a statement expressing condolences. Copycat behaviour is a serious issue that needs to be addressed. “This is called weather phenomenon or cluster.
To prevent suicides, we should analyse why it has happened and tell people who are suicidal or depressed that there are other ways to deal with it. Identify people who are suicidal, acknowledge the issue and suicides can be prevented, “ said Dr Lakshmi Vijaykumar, Founder, SNEHA.
(Assistance for those having suicidal thoughts is available in TamilNadu’s health helpline 104 and Sneha’s suicide prevention helpline 044-24640050)