Sacked IT man lands in Chennai's mental hospital

Chennai: Engineering graduate Jayapalan, who threatened to jump from a mobile phone tower and commit suicide on February 1 in depression after he was sacked reportedly along with 300 of his colleagues in Chennai, has now been admitted to the Institute of Mental Health (IMH), Kilpauk.

This was because he continued with his violent behavior after being released on bail.

He was enlarged on bail on Wednesday and went missing the day forcing his relatives and members from Forum for IT Employees (FITE) to run from pillar to post looking for him. He was finally located at Tiruvanmiyur on Thursday.

Police stopped him when he was found roaming. When his family tried to take him to his native place in Tiruchy on Friday, he became violent. He told his family members that they never bothered to look for him and never came to meet him in jail. “When he became violent, the family members sought police advice. Police then got him admitted to the IMH where he is expected to undergo a treatment for 3-4 days,”  a FITE member said.

Jayapalan, 27, came to Chennai in September last and was working in a company in Ramanujam IT city on OMR for a monthly wage of '8,500. The company operating from an IT park reportedly sacked about 300 workers without paying their salaries last month.

He climbed the mobile phone tower with a suicide note in his pocket. The note talked about the grievances of the sacked employees.  

He had also elaborated in detail about the pay anomalies within the company and the threats employees had to face when they asked for their salary.  Jayapalan was whisked away from the spot to Saidapet police station.

A fact-finding report by Knowledge Professionals Forum (KPF) says he was keen on getting media attention towards layoff and the injustice that happened to him and his colleagues.

Jayapalan’s father was working in BHEL, Tiruchy, and died in an accident. He did his engineering with his sister’s support. After studies, he came to Chennai for job. His mother told KPF that Jayapalan was not paid two months salary and overtime he did during rain.

What happened to Jayapalan is not an isolated issue, many of his colleagues have faced this issue but he alone brought it to light, said the KPF report.