Chennai: A first year mechanical engineering student of Sairam College committed suicide on Friday morning after he failed to clear an exam.
The student was a Dalit hailing from Perambalur. The victim’s classmates alleged it was after torture by the warden and the campus director, the student committed suicide. He was missing around 8:30 am and after searching for him for three hours he was found dead.
According to some students, T. Abhinath’s body was found in a well inside the college campus. The campus director P. Balu and the warden Dhanush tortured him after he failed in the exam.
He was a first graduate in the family and his father was a farmer. He wanted to study veterinary science. But his father forced him to study engineering. “In the last semester, he failed in an exam for which the hostel warden harassed him. So he went to meet Balu to make a complaint against Dhanush. But in return Balu harassed him more. He even called his parents,” said a student requesting anonymity. The warden also took the identity card from him. “He was mentally disturbed as without ID card one cannot go from the hostel to college. He was very silent from the moment the management scolded him,” said a student. The students also said the victim belonged to scheduled caste.
A senior police officer said the student had got four arrears. The management scolded him and asked him to bring his parents. He was afraid of his father. He jumped into the well on the college campus. He didn’t attend the model examinations but was a good student. Probably he couldn’t cope with the environment. Police officers said it was a case of suicide but there was no suicide note. Investigation is on. The college management failed to respond to repeated attempts to contact it.
