In a heart-wrenching incident, a hearing- and speech-impaired student of the BTech programme of IIT-Allahabad died by suicide on his birthday, after messaging his mother. The deceased has been identified as Rahul Chaitanya Madala, who hailed from Nizamabad, Telangana.
Rahul jumped from the fifth floor of the hostel at night on March 30, Sunday. He got into IIIT-A after getting 2nd rank in JEE. Rahul was rushed to the hospital after inmates heard a loud noise in the middle of the night. After the institute alerted the police, his body was taken to Swaroop Rani Nehru Hospital (SRNH) for post-mortem, Hindustan Times reported.
Rahul had dropped a message to his mother stating he was battling academic pressure. He also requested her to look after the family, including younger brother and father, India Today reported. The HT report said outraged students held institution responsible.,Rahul had flunked six papers of the first semester, which could have led him to battle a bout of anxiety and forced him to take the extreme step, according to the report. Further, he was not attending classes for months.
‘Probe to decide the cause of suicide’
“Upon receiving information, the body was taken into custody and sent for post-mortem. The deceased’s family has arrived, and further investigation will determine the exact cause of the suicide,” HT quoted Amar Nath Rai, SHO Dhoomanganj, as saying. He confirmed the incident occurred around at 2 am.
Rahul’s final message to mother
“I got scared on seeing the message and called him but his phone was off. Then I called his friend who went to check on him. His friend asked another student who was passing by about Rahul’s whereabouts. He then abruptly disconnected the call. He called me 10 minutes later, saying my son is being taken to the hospital,” NDTV quoted Rahul’s mother as saying.
The institute informed her that he had not attended classes for six months. “The administration never informed us anything about this earlier,” his mother said when she arrived at the campus. “We used to go for speech therapy to help us both communicate. He used to share if he ate anything nice or anything related to his classes. He used to chat. On Thursday night, he had asked for ₹500. I had sent him the money,” she recalled.
IIIT Allahabad on Rahul’s suicide
The director in-charge of the institute, Prof GC Nandi, said a three-member committee consisting of Prof US Tiwary, Prof OP Vyas and Prof Pavan Chakraborty has been formed to conduct a probe into the case. The committee will officially announce its findings within a week, HT reported.
Nandi added a suggestion to form a fact-finding subcommittee with chairman (council of wardens), senior faculty members, all wardens, and representatives of students was being considered. Fifty per cent of the members of the committee will be students.
