Mystery shrouds death of city teen studying in NIT Calicut

HYDERABAD: Family members of city youth Chennupati Yashwant, who was pursuing B.Tech at NIT Calicut, suspect foul play behind his death. His parents were informed that their 18-year-old son had jumped from the hostel building and ended his life by suicide. But the family alleged that he was pushed down.

They appealed to minister K.T. Rama Rao to intervene and ensure justice.

Responding to his request, Rama Rao tweeted, “ Very sorry for your loss Sir. Request Chief Minister of Kerala to kindly look into this complaint of a bereaved father from Telangana (sic).”

Yashwant had secured a seat in IIT-Gandhinagar, but since he could not get admission in computer sciences, he joined NIT.

Explaining how the events unfolded, Yashwant’s father Nageswararao  Chennupati told Deccan Chronicle that around 3.30pm on Monday, his wife Bharathi received a call informing that Yashwant had attempted suicide and was admitted in a hospital.

When the family reached Calicut early on Tuesday, they were taken to the mortuary, where Yashwant’s body was lying with an ‘unidentified body’ label
on it.

Nageswararao, who had recently quit his job in a private firm and started trading full time, added that the local police and the college authorities had stated that he had jumped from the ninth floor of the hostel building where he was staying and died.

“Without any proof and investigation, how can they come to such a conclusion
so quickly? There are no CC cameras near the spot. They have also shown us a
suicide note claiming that my son had written, but I strongly doubt that he was forced to write it,” he added.

He said that Yashwant’s savings account had Rs 7 lakh in it. However, when the statement was verified, there was no amount in his account.

“The amounts were transferred to seven of his friends. I strongly believe that his friends forced him to transfer the money and then pushed him down,” he said.

He also clarified that there are no personal or financial problems that forced Yashwant to take this extreme step, as claimed by the police and media in Calicut.