By Express News Service
Published: 23rd September 2015 03:42 AM
N Narayana Reddy father of IIT student who committed suicide waiting to receive the body at government Royapettah hospital in Chennai on Tuesday. | (Jawahar/EPS)
CHENNAI: In yet another case of suicide by bright young minds inside premier campuses in the country, a 23-year-old post-graduate student of the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras, the only child of an agrarian family from neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, was found hanging from the ceiling of his fifth floor hostel room on Monday night.
>>Related: (I)IT's Not Right to Give Up Fight
Naram Narendra Kumar Reddy (23), a native of Kesavapuram in Kadapa district in Andhra Pradesh, had returned to Chennai only on Monday morning after visiting his native place for Vinayaka Chathurthi holidays.
As he did not come out of his room in Tamraparani Hostel for a long time, his friends checked through the window to find him hanging, around 5 pm, police said.
His family reached Chennai on Tuesday afternoon. The family members came to the institute to collect his belongings before heading to the Government Royapettah Hospital where the body was kept. They returned to their native place by road in the evening. So far, no suicide note has been found and the reason behind the suicide is unclear.
There were no indications as to why Naram Narendra Kumar Reddy took the drastic step. Even as they admit that they are yet to unravel the mystery behind the suicide, officials from the city police say he could not clear the GATE exam during consecutive attempts in 2014 and 2015. “He was also upset that his juniors were well-placed ahead of him,” said an official.
However, his friends in the campus are not convinced by this, pointing out that Narendra was a bright student whose education was being sponsored under a scheme by noted company, L&T, under which he was drawing a stipend of Rs 13,000 per month.
“His job is already secured as per the agreement,” said his under-graduate classmate, Subodh.
Echoing him, Akhil, another of Narendra’s friends, dismissed the police version, pointing out that the deceased was ranked around 2,000 in GATE 2014 and 700 in GATE 2015.
“This is ridiculous. Do you think that someone can simply walk into an IIT? He is strong in his academics,” he said.
His family members told the media here that he had spoken to them last around 8 am on Monday morning.
“He told me that he was tired and was planning to take a nap. About 12 hours later, I got a call from his friends that he is no more,” said Narendra’s distraught father, N Narayana Reddy.
