LUCKNOW: The wife of an Associate Professor at IIT-BHU died by suicide after jumping from the sixth floor of their residential building at around 6 am on Friday. Though the family rushed her to the hospital, doctors declared her dead on arrival.
Harita Chaudhury, 43, was the wife of Professor Ravindra Nath Chaudhary, who hails from Andhra Pradesh and is an Associate Professor in the Computer Science Department at IIT-BHU. The couple lived with their two children in the GTFRC building on the sixth floor of the Acharya Gopal Tripathi Teacher Residential Complex in Hyderabad Colony, BHU.
According to sources, Harita had been suffering from depression for the past two years and was undergoing treatment at BHU. Police arrived at the scene shortly after the incident and began an investigation, with a forensic team collecting evidence. The body was later sent for post-mortem examination.
Sources said that Professor Chaudhary joined IIT-BHU in 2014. On Friday morning, he and their two children—an 11-year-old son and 8-year-old daughter—were asleep when the incident occurred. “I don't know when Harita got up and left the room. Around six in the morning, she jumped. The guard and neighbours woke us up and informed us that my wife had fallen from the roof. When we reached the spot, we saw that she had died. Then we informed the police,” said the professor.
He added that he had conducted six research projects with published papers. “Everyone was happy the day before the incident, but now we are all devastated,” he said.
After the autopsy, Professor Chaudhary plans to take his wife’s body to Andhra Pradesh for the last rites.
Following the incident, both police and BHU administration officials reached the site. Lanka Station Officer Rajkumar Sharma confirmed that, as per the professor’s statement.
Professor Ravindra Nath Chaudhary is currently working on research related to curbing offensive comments on social media platforms. His ongoing work in Artificial Intelligence (AI) aims to develop effective solutions to tackle abusive or inappropriate online content.
(If you are having suicidal thoughts, or are worried about a friend or need emotional support, someone is always there to listen. Call Sneha Foundation - 04424640050, Tele Manas - 14416 (available 24x7) or iCall, the Tata Institute of Social Sciences' helpline - 02225521111, which is available Monday to Saturday from 8 am to 10 pm.)