Jul 22, 2011 at 09:27am IST
HYDERABAD: A PhD student of BITS Pilani reportedly committed suicide by jumping to death from atop a building on the campus on Thursday. The reasons for the extreme step are not yet known. Preliminary investigation led the police to believe that it could be a case of a failed love affair.
Thimmappa Manjushetty, 30, was staying in room no 116 of Gandhi Bhavan block on the BITS Pilani campus in Jawaharnagar mandal outskirts under the Alwal police station limits.
Thimmappa, a native of Karnataka, was pursuing his PhD in pharmacy and joined the institute in 2008. He was on the verge of completing his PhD in the next couple of months. According to Alwal police inspector J Pushpan Kumar, Thimmappa went out of the campus on Wednesday and returned at night. He did not reportedly speak to any of the other students and went inside his room. “Many of the hosteliers left to their respective places as it was vacation.
There were just a couple of students staying on the campus,” Pushpan Kumar said. Only a couple of students were in the hostel in the first floor of the block. On Thursday, workers sweeping the premises found Thimmappa’s body near the Buddha Bhavan block, which is adjacent to the block in which the deceased was staying. “We suspect he might have jumped from the fourth floor of the block,” Pushpan Kumar said.
Police said they are yet to question other inmates of the campus, his friends and family members to ascertain the reasons for the suicide. “The family members are yet to arrive in the city,” the inspector said, adding they might throw more light on the reasons that led to Thimmappa’s suicide.
Police said they would be verifying the call particulars of Thimmappa’s mobile phone to know more about his friends.
Police are trying to establish whether Thimmappa met any person after he left the campus on Wednesday.
The body was shifted to the Gandhi General Hospital for autopsy which would be performed on Friday after Thimmappa’s parents arrive. Police said a case was registered under Section 174 (suspicious death) and investigation is on.
