‘Depressed’ IIT Hyderabad student ends life

Hyderabad: A third-year-engineering student of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Hyderabad, allegedly committed suicide by jumping from the third floor of the hostel building during the wee hours on Tuesday. The injured student, Pichikala Siddarth, was rushed to a hospital in the city for treatment, where he succumbed to the injuries.

Mr Siddarth, 20, a resident of Quthbullapur, was the son of P Srinivas, a busines-sman. He was pursuing third-year computer sciences engineering at the IIT-H and residing at the campus hostel. The student had reportedly sent an email to a friend, revealing that he was depressed with life and studies, leading him to take this extreme step. The boy reportedly mentioned in the note to his friend that life felt depressing for the last two months and he had no clue about his future. He was unable to concentrate on studies, he said in his final email.

Shiva Yadav, Sangareddy (rural) inspector, said that at around 3.26 am, Siddarth jumped from the third floor of the hostel building. The security staff and students, who noticed the incident, immediately rushed him to a nearby hospital. He was shifted to Continental Hospital in the city for better treatment, but he died while undergoing treatment, Mr Yadav said.

“On inquiry, it was found that Siddarth had sent an email to his friend informing that he was depressed with life and unable to concentrate on studies for some time,” he said.

“The body of the deceased boy was handed over to his parents after performing a post-mortem examination. A case of suspicious death was registered,” he said.

The IIT Hyderabad has expressed condolences to the family of the deceased, calling it “an irreparable loss to the institution”.

When asked, he said that the friend, who had received the email from Siddarth, is now with his family and parents, and in deep shock. He would be given professional counselling to overcome the trauma. The death of Siddarth is the third such incident since January this year at the premier technology institute.

In October, Mark Andrew Charles, 25, a second-year student of M Design at IIT-H, committed suicide by hanging himself at his room on the night of July 1. He belonged to Varanasi and was about to complete his course when he took the extreme step. He had repor-tedly left a note mentioning that he was feeling empty and did not get good grades.

On February 1, Anirudh-ya Mummaneni, 21, a final-year student of mechanical and aerospace engineering, committed suicide by jumping off a building at the campus. The boy was said to be under depression when took the extreme step.