PATNA: A 20-year-old student shot himself dead in his house in Patna while video-chatting with his girlfriend on WhatsApp in the early hours of Monday.
The body of Akash Kumar alias Bunty was found in his bed with a gunshot wound in his head, a pistol in his hand and his mobile phone in video-chat mode connected to his girlfriend, said police. Akash was a student of intermediate in the Bihar capital. The apparent suicide left his family shattered.
Police contacted Akash’s girlfriend soon after taking a look at his body and the call record on his mobile phone, which showed that he had engaged in a long video chat with her before his death. Akash had shot himself dead at about 3 PM in his house at Saichak, according to police officials who spoke with his girlfriend.
“He had apparently shot himself dead and live-streamed his suicide to his girlfriend over WhatsApp video chat. His girlfriend has said that she was talking with him on video chat and that they had had a long argument,” said Ramakant Prasad, deputy superintendent of police (DSP) who visited Akash’s house after learning of his death. He said further investigation in the case is on.
Sources said Akash and the girl were in love for about a year and that he was deeply frustrated due to her noncommittal attitude towards his proposal for marriage. “They had an argument while talking on phone last night when she wanted more time to decide about marrying him. She also tried to calm him down when he repeatedly threatened to kill himself, but he went ahead and pulled the trigger,” said a source.
The girl, who has been familiar with some of Akash’s relatives, also reportedly called up one of his close relatives when he showed him the gun in his hand during the video chat. But nobody apparently intervened in time.
This is the second incident of a live-streamed suicide in Patna. A college student had hanged himself from a ceiling fan while live-streaming the act on Facebook in 2015.
Police officials probing the case are also trying to find out how Akash got the gun and the bullets. His father, Sanjay Rai, however, refused to believe it was a suicide and said his son was killed. “We learnt by a phone call that he is dead. We are telling police why we do not believe it is a suicide,” he said.