NLSIU student called father 10 minutes before jumping in front of metro train: Police

Bengaluru: First-year law student Dhruv Jatin Thakkar called up his father 10 minutes before jumping in front of a metro train at the Attiguppe station on Thursday, and sounded “a little off”. 

The worried father — a practising lawyer in Mumbai — asked him to go to Cubbon Park so he could feel better. He also asked his son’s friends to check on him, police investigations revealed. 

Thakkar, a BA LLB student at the National Law School of India University (NLSIU), had told his father he wasn’t feeling well and that he had stepped out of the hostel. He even shared his live location with his father on WhatsApp.

He had also informed his hostel mate that he was going out, a police officer close to the investigation told DH. 

Thakkar gained admission into the NLSIU after scoring well in the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT). While he was good at studies, he was also “distressed”, the officer added. 

At 2.10 pm on Thursday, he jumped before an oncoming metro train at the Attiguppe station and died at the scene. His body was found with the head severed. 

On Friday, the body was handed over to the family after the post-mortem. 

While the preliminary report has ruled out any foul play in the death, the police have discovered that Thakkar had been on medication, but it is not clear what it was for. “He appears to have been depressed. We are trying to find out what drove him to take the extreme step,” the officer said. 

Police questioned Thakkar’s friends, who were too “shocked” to throw light on his behaviour.

Officials inspect the platform at the Attiguppe metro station where law student Dhruv Jatin Thakkar jumped in front of the train on Thursday. DH PHOTO/PUSHKAR V

They told the police he was “a quiet, sensitive person who mostly kept to himself”.

Police will question them again after a couple of days, the officer said.