Chennai: In a second incident in less than a month, a B.Tech student of IIT-M committed suicide in his hostel room on Sunday night.
“Rahul G. Prasad last spoke to his friends around 9 pm on Sunday after which they retired to their respective rooms. One of his friends checked in his room on Monday afternoon to find him hanging. It seems that he committed suicide on Sunday night itself,” an investigating officer said.
Kotturpuram police rushed to the hostel and secured his body and moved it to Government Royapettah hospital for post-mortem.
“There was no suicide note recovered from his room. We informed his family members. They are expected to reach the city by 9 pm,” Inspector N. Elangovan said.
Investigations with his friends have suggested a possible failed love affair to be the reason behind the suicide. “There was a periodical test on Monday. But, from what we learnt from his professors, the student had no problems in academics. We have learnt that the student has two arrears, but that does not seem to be the reason,” a senior police officer told DC adding that the deceased also applied for the GATE exams next year.
Most of the students DC spoke to near the hostel remember Rahul to be a reserved person.
His family members too were unaware of any problems that the student may have been facing. “His father (S.S.Giriprasad) spoke to him on Sunday night. He had sounded happy and normal. He had never complained of any issues in academics or his personal life to us till date,” Rahul’s maternal aunt told DC over phone.
IIT-Madras released a statement condoling the death of one of its students.
“The police is investigating the death and the institute is extending full cooperation. At this time, we have no indication of the reason for the death,” read the media statement.
Recently, on September 21, a 23-year-old PG student, N. Nagendra Kumar Reddy committed suicide in his hostel room on campus. Depression over his failure to clear GATE exams was suspected to be the reason behind his suicide.
