Hyderabad: Lecturer arrested for abetting suicide of 17-year-old student

Hyderabad: In a new twist to the suicide on January 3 of a 17-year-old student, the SR Nagar police are now interrogating a member of the college faculty. The girl committed suicide by hanging at her residence in Motinagar on January 3. A case of suspicious death has been registered.

Abhignya, 17, an intermediate second year student of Velocity junior college. Police say her college lecturer, Rajni Kanth, is suspected to be involved in her death.

“January 3, around 6:30 pm, while her father, D. Chandra Shekar, 46, a private employee, and his wife went for a walk and her elder sister, Sai Harika, 18, was giving tuitions, Abhignya committed suicide by hanging in the bedroom,” said sub-inspector P. Mahendar of the SR Nagar police. 

She was rushed to a nearby private hospital where she was declared dead on arrival. A case has been booked under Section 174 (suspicious death) of the CrPC and an investigation is underway. 

“We will be altering the case to abetment to suicide and other sections if we have to, based on further investigation. We are waiting for the call records and are interrogating the faculty member and other witnesses,” said inspector S. Murali Krishna.

Speaking to DC, Panjagutta ACP, Vijay Kumar said that following the allegations against the lecturer’s involvement made by the media, we tried to check Abhignya’s phone but failed to gain access. We then checked the call records of Rajni Kanth and found that they had spoken over the phone for hours. The lecturer was taken into custody by the SR Nagar police on Friday evening.