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Sunday, November 10, 2013

215 - IIT-M student kills himself in hostel room - New Indian Express

By Express News Service - CHENNAI
Published: 04th November 2013 08:13 AM
Last Updated: 04th November 2013 08:13 AM

A first year Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)- Madras student, who had joined the joined the course hardly three months ago, allegedly committed suicide by hanging, in his hostel room on Saturday.

Nineteen-year-old Akshay Kumar, a native of Baran district in Rajasthan, was found hanging by one of his roommates around 10.30 pm in the Bamba Hostel wing where he was staying. Akshay Kumar was a B Tech (Chemical Engineering) student.

Since no suicide note was left by him, the Kotturpuram police, who are investigating the case, said they were unable to ascertain the reason for the suicide.

The body was handed over to Akshay Kumar’s father Nanda Kishore Kumar, who reached the city on Sunday.

“His father also could not give a proper reason for his suicide. He joined the college only in July and had mostly kept to himself. He hardly interacted with his classmates or roommates. So they were not able to give much details about what was worrying him,” said sub-inspector Velu.

On Saturday evening, all of his roommates had left for a movie when Kumar hanged himself in the room.
The Facebook profile of Akshay Kumar spoke about his loneliness.

“Alone But Always” reads the caption of his profile.

214 - IIT-Madras student hangs himself - TNN

IIT-Madras student hangs himself

TNN Nov 4, 2013, 03.49AM IST

CHENNAI: A first-year student of chemical engineering committed suicide in his hostel room at Indian Institute of Technology-Madras on Friday night.

The 18-year-old student, Akshay Kumar Meena, from Kota in Rajasthan, was found hanging himself from the ceiling fan in his room in Pampa Hostel, IIT officials said. They said it was not immediately clear what provoked Meena to commit suicide as he did not leave behind a suicide note.

This is the third suicide of a student in an IIT Madras hostel in the past two years.

Meena joined the institution in July 2013. His friends and hostel-mates said they did not notice anything out of the usual in Meena's behaviour and they could not think of any reason why he would kill himself.

"He was very active in student groups and participated in events in the hostels," a friend said, requesting that his name not be revealed. "He was not bad at studies."

Meena made a call to his father at 8.30pm. "His father said there was nothing unusual about the call and his son did not indicate that he had any problem," an IIT-M official said.

Meena's friends found him hanging in his room when they returned to the hostel at 10.15pm, after Friday's weekly movie screening at the institute.

"His room was locked from inside. When he did not open the door even though we knocked on it for several minutes, we stood on a stool and peeped through the ventilator of his room," Meena's friend said. "We were shocked to see a rope tied to the ceiling fan."

He said the immediately informed security officers and the medical department in the campus. "But he was dead by the time they forced open the door," the friend said.

Meena was supposed to see the movie with his friends but he left the venue at 8.30pm, even before the film was screened. "His last Facebook post, along with his picture, said, 'I am alone, but I am happy'," another friend said.

"Police are still investigating the case," IIT-M dean of students L S Ganesh said. "We are shocked," he said. "He joined the institution barely three months ago. His friends did not observe any change in him and he was a fairly good student."

Police sent the body Royapettah Government Hospital for postmortem. Meena's father, Nanda Kishore, arrived in Chennai on Saturday. He will take the body back to Kota on Monday morning.