Before he died, Alok was depressed, afraid: Teachers

He was low in confidence, having failed in third semester exam

The death of Alok Ranjan, student of the Nagarjuna College of Engineering, has evoked varied reactions.

His parents, Vijay Kumar Thakur and Prabha Rani, have demanded a thorough investigation, while the College administration have promised all help in the investigation.
The police are busy finding out the truth behind the death of the student.

While there is a suspicion that Alok was murdered, primary investigation points to a suicide. The postmortem too indicates that it is a suicide.

Teachers say

Lecturers of the college say Alok was a sensitive boy, closely attached to his parents.
“He had failed in his third semester exams and was dejected. He never tolerated if his girlfriend was close to others. He was feeling both agitated and worried at the same time over the sudden turn of events in his life” they explained. “Perhaps, these were the reasons that drove him to commit such an act.”

On the day

Dr H Maheshappa, vice-chancellor of the Visvesvaraya Technology University, had visited the college on May 11, to attend a national seminar on mechanical engineering. A programme called ‘Management Fest’ was also organised on the occasion.
On that day, Alok  was upset that his girlfriend had stopped speaking to him or messaging him since two months earlier.

“He tried speaking to her on Friday. But, he also lost his temper at some point and slapped her. On learning this, his friend, Amrit Kumar, came to the library to inquire about the matter. Again, Alok slapped both of them on the face. We tried to prevent the situation going out of hand and sent Alok to another room,” said some of the college staff.

Worries

Alok got worried over the incident.

“He was scared that his girlfriend and Amrit Kumar would complain to the police, which would hurt his parents. He was also scared that there may be a retaliation,” said a police officer, in conversation with Deccan Herald.

“He was also worried over the repercussions if the episode were to become public. As an immediate measure to prevent such occurrences, Alok called up the Chikkaballapur police and asked them to come to the college. He went to the college gate under police protection and then went to his house at Devanahalli. The next day, he was found dead,” the officer added.

Postmortem twice

Following suspicions of murder, Alok’s body was subjected to postmortem twice, by doctors at Bowring Hospital in Bangalore.

“After the first round of postmortem, we got the report that it was a suicide. His parents, however, refused to accept the report and insisted on a second round of postmortem.

However, the second report showed a similar result. The report also showed that there were no external marks on the body to indicate any kind of assault. The suspicion that Alok committed suicide is therefore confirmed,” said police sources.