Chennai: Tension prevailed a Sathyabama university campus on Rajiv Gandhi Salai on Wednesday after a first year student allegedly committed suicide in her hostel room allegedly due to chiding by college staff. Following the death, the students went on a rampage setting fire to properties on the campus after a protest that lasted for several hours.
Police personnel and fire and rescue services rushed to the scene to bring the situation under control. The deceased was identified as Raga Monica Reddy (18), a native of Hyderbad. The girl was a first year computer science student.
Police sources said that she was caught indulging in malpractice during exams on Wednesday. The invigilator had caught her copying and had asked her to leave the exam hall around 10.30 am. She was writing the engineering chemistry paper, as part of her second semester exams, police sources said.
According to sources, the student had managed to sneak in a paper into the exam hall and was copying from it when the invigilator caught her red-handed. Depressed over the chiding, the girl went to her hostel room and hanged to death. Police said that the girl had sent a text to her brother, Rakesh who also studies in the same department in Sathyabama University.
Her friends rushed to the hostel to find her hanging in her room. Hostel staff and police were alerted. The body was recovered and sent to the Royapettah Government Hospital for autopsy.
Semmenchery police have registered a case under section 174 of CrPC (unnatural death) and are investigating. The girl’s parents have been informed. Meanwhile, batchmates and other students in the university staged a protest against the college management for driving the girl to commit suicide.
Later in the day, the situation went out of control with some of the students indulging in arson. A posse of police personnel have been deployed at the university to bring the situation under control, a police officer said.
