Hyderabad University student committed suicide due to depression, says police

After a student from University of Hyderabad allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself, the police today said that from the evidences found, it seemed he was a patient of depression and use to continuously assess his performance.

Madhapur DCP Kartikeya told media here that the victim has been identified as Nilli Praveen Kumar, a 25-year-old native of Shadnagar.

"An unfortunate incident happened this morning at around 4 a.m, where a student, Nilli Parveen Kumar, from University of Hyderabad in L-hostel from room no. 204 committed suicide. His age was about 25-years old and he was a native of Shadnagar," Kartikeya said.

"As per the clues, it seems maybe he was in some depression and use to continuously compare himself with his performance," he added.

Giving details about the victim and the incident, Kartikeya said, Kumar committed suicide by hanging himself from ceiling fan. The first person, who saw him hanging, was Mari Raj.

"The room was locked from inside and he tried to open it, but with the help of other hostel mates, the room was forcibly opened and his body was soon shifted to university health centre," he said.

He further said, Kumar was then shifted to citizen hospital in Nalaganda and declared brought dead.

Stating that the team is investigating the matter, DCP said, "The room in which he committed suicide has been locked and things like one laptop, two notebooks, two cell-phones and a tablet have been seized."

"In a notebook, they have found some notes written is English-they are Telugu words, but written in English language and were seized in the presence of witnesses. It will be sent for the forensic examination," Kartikeya added.

Kartikeya further said that the matter is under investigation and would examine his friends, family and other acquaintances in university.

Kumar was a first-year student of Masters in Fine Arts (MFA) from the University of Hyderabad.

The university's official spokesperson, Professor Vipin Srivastava, confirmed the news, and said, "Police is investigating the matter. He was MFA (Painting) student and had joined the university one and a half months back."

The suicide comes months after Rohith Vemula (26), a second year PhD student at University of Hyderabad, committed suicide inside the campus alleging caste discrimination.

Since then thousands of students and activists have hit the streets in protest across India amid a renewed debate on festering casteism in educational campuses.