BTech student jumps to death from 7th floor over hostel water row

Bengaluru, Oct 22: A 21-year-old final-year BTech student of Amrita School of Engineering committed suicide by jumping off the seventh floor of his college building alleging harassment by the college management, touching off protests by hundreds of students. The nub of the issue was shortage of water and substandard food in the college hostel.

The protest ended in the evening after Parappana Agrahara police assured students of stringent action against those responsible for the suicide of Sri Harsha, a resident of Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, who took the fatal leap around noon. He died on the way to hospital.

 The Electronics and Communication student, who was recently suspended from the college over his alleged role in vandalism on the campus, had received two offers — Rs 16 lakh a year and another for Rs 20 lakh a year — during campus placements.

According to police sources, the management threatened to get his placements cancelled. On Monday, Harsha and other students were in the thick of negotiations with the college management in the midst of which he rushed out of the college office and jumped to his death.

DCP (southeast) Isha Pant said they have taken up a case against the college management under IPC sections 306 (abetment to suicide) and 201 (destroying evidence) on the basis of a complaint filed by Harsha’s father, Vijay Bhaskar.

A student told mediapersons that Harsha and other students complained to the management about the shortage of water and substandard food in a hostel block on September 23, but did not get a favourable response. The students staged a protest during which windows of a lab, classrooms and college buses were damaged. The classes were suspended on September 24 and the college was closed from September 25 for Dasara.

A disciplinary committee conducted an inquiry into the ruckus. Based on its report, more than 20 students, including Harsha, were suspended for one year, the student said. According to documents, each of the suspended students was asked to pay Rs 25,000 as fine and Rs 50,000 as caution deposit.

Parents of the suspended students tried to approach the management, seeking the rollback of suspension, but were allegedly not allowed to even enter the campus.

“I came here on Monday to request the management to cancel the disciplinary action against my son. But they did not allow me inside the campus. My son went inside and I later came to know he had committed suicide by jumping off the hostel building. The college staff promptly cleaned blood from the spot where my son had fallen and tried to destroy the evidence,” Vijay Bhaskar told reporters.

DCP Pant confirmed Harsha appeared before the disciplinary committee at the college before taking the extreme step. “We learnt the committee threatened Harsha that he was the reason behind the vandalisation and they would cancel his placements,” Pant said.