Chennai: A 23-year-old post graduate student at Indian Institute of Technology – Madras (IIT-M), N. Nagendra Kumar Reddy, committed suicide in his hostel room on campus on Monday night. Depression over his futile attempts to clear the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) exams to get into a public sector company is suspected to be the reason behind his suicide, according to the police.
Only son of agricultural labourer couple, Narayana Reddy and Kanthammal, Nagendra Kumar is a native of Kesavapuram village in Kadapa district of Andhra Pradesh. He was pursuing II year M.Tech civil engineering at IIT-M, sponsored by his employer, L&T.
“According to his friends, he was aiming for a government job and was unhappy after he failed to clear the GATE exams twice. In the first attempt, his rank was in the 2000’s and in the recent attempt in March this year, he was ranked in 700’s and missed the list by a whisker,” an investigating official said.
Around 9 pm on Monday, one of his friends found Nagendra Kumar hanging from the ceiling fan in his fifth floor room at Thamaraparani hostel. "We were informed around 10 pm and moved the body to the Government Royapettah Hospital for post mortem," Kotturpuram Inspector N.Elangovan said.
Investigations revealed that Nagendra Kumar had spent the weekend at his native place and returned to his hostel on Monday morning. "He did not turn up for classes on Monday and locked himself up in his room," the Inspector said. His friends had checked on him once during lunch and left assuming he was tired. They grew suspicious after he didn't turn up for dinner after which they broke open the door to find Nagendra Kumar hanging from the ceiling fan using the bedspread.
"Our personnel checked his laptop and screened his room too. There was no suicide note," a senior police officer said. Kotturpuram police registered a case under section 174 of CrPC and are investigating.
