Kerala: Dust unsettled on Sonuja V Soman

ALAPPUZHA: Mystery shrouds the death of Sonuja V. Soman, a third-semester postgraduate English literature student of Bishop Moore College Mavelikara, even after almost a month. The Dalit girl who lost her father in childhood was being looked after by her uncle since her mother, currently nursing superintendent at Government Hospital Mavelikara, got re-married. She was found hanging from a ceiling fan on October 30 at her uncle’s house at Arunoottimangalam. She died in hospital a day later.

Though the police deduced it as a suicide, the exact reason remains obscure. Relatives say she was home alone as she refused to accompany the family to an ashram in Pathanamthitta telling them she had to finish her assignment on that day. When they returned by evening, they saw the girl hanging and assignment papers strewn on the table. Mavelikara sub-inspector E. Ajeeb said it was a suicide and they got no evidence to prove otherwise. There was no suicide note.

"The post-mortem showed the reason for the death as the tightened knot around the neck," he told DC. "We came to know she had an affair with a person for years. She committed suicide due to depression from the breakup." But there's no case for abetment registered against the lover. She had an affair with a boy Syam Sankar from Chettikulangara here for last five years. He used to stop her on the walkways by force after the breakup and insult her publicly. The issue was later sorted out in the presence of her local guardians.

For last some months, she was good in academic and extracurricular activities. But many of her well-wishers still believe an external influence drove her into the extreme step. They say one of her close relatives was at home after rest of them left. The investigators had not examined her mobile phone thoroughly. They rule out suicide over the affair since it was an old story and she had fully recovered from it. Her relatives refused to hand the cell phone over to the police, they say.