CHENNAI: In two separate incidents in IIT-Madras, a research scholar allegedly killed himself on Monday night and a first-year B Tech student attempted to end his life at the institute’s hostel room on Monday. The deceased, Stephen Sunny, 27, a native of Maharashtra, was a second-year MS research scholar in the electrical engineering department.
The B Tech student is currently undergoing treatment at a private hospital, police said. According to sources, Sunny returned to his hostel room on the campus on Monday afternoon. His friends grew suspicious after Sunny failed to open the door even after they repeatedly knocked on his room door. “They informed the hostel warden, broke open the door, found Sunny dead, and informed the police,” a senior police officer said.
The Kotturpuram police registered a case and sent his body to the Royapettah Government Hospital for postmortem. Police said Sunny has not left behind any suicide note and he may have taken the extreme step due to personal reasons. Police seized his laptop and mobile phone and a probe is on.
A few hours earlier, around 5.30pm, the Kotturpuram police received another call about a student being found unconscious in his room on the campus. According to police sources, the 22-year-old first-year
B Tech student from Karnataka returned to his hostel room around 12.30pm on Monday.
“His friends, who returned to the room at 5pm, found that the door was locked from the inside and he did not respond to repeated calls,” a senior police officer said. Police, quoting sources, said the B Tech student was allegedly depressed for the past few weeks.
Police say victim was depressed for past few weeks
They broke open the door and found him lying unconscious on the floor. He was rushed to a private hospital, where he is currently being treated.
After preliminary investigations, police said he was allegedly depressed for the past few weeks. Further probe is on. (Assistance for those having suicidal thoughts is available on Tamil Nadu’s health helpline 104 and Sneha’s suicide prevention helpline 044-24640050)