Before jumping to death from hostel building, SVNIT student told parents he ‘boarded flight to Muscat’

“Arun Kumar frantically called up another student at SVNIT, Merlin Mathew, also from Kerala, and learnt that he had met with an accident and was severely injured and hospitalised. Arun called up his friend Rinto Antony, a resident of the Adajan area in Surat. Antony reached Sunshine Global Hospital and found that Advait had succumbed to injuries,” Ajith said.

Antony then called Arun Kumar and informed him about the death of his son. Arun Kumar and his wife immediately booked a flight from Muscat to Mumbai. The couple arrived at the Mumbai airport early on Monday morning and then travelled by train, reaching Surat at 3 pm. They were devastated to see their son… and contacted the SVNIT authorities.

Advait died allegedly by suicide by jumping from the second floor of his hostel balcony late on Sunday evening, police said on Tuesday.

According to sources at the Umra police station, the incident took place around 11:15 pm on Sunday, when Advait, who was residing in Bhabha Boy’s Hostel on the SVNIT campus, came out from his room and allegedly jumped off the balcony. After hearing a “loud thud”, other students reached the spot.

According to a source, “The students called an ambulance and took him to the Sunshine Global hospital for treatment. After primary treatment, Advait was declared dead by doctors”.

NRI family

A source in the Nair family said Arun Kumar has been settled in Muscat for a long time after migrating from his native place in Thrissur, Kerala, and works as a metallising engineer at a private company, while his wife works at a private firm. The couple also has a daughter, who is a Class 8 student.

On Monday afternoon, members of the Kerala Samaj in Surat, led by its president Sunil Nambiar reached New Civil Hospital to assist Arun Kumar. Ajith also reached Surat by Monday afternoon.

The postmortem examination was conducted later that day, and the body was handed over to them. The family transported the body in an ambulance to Mumbai on Monday evening, from there it was flown to Kerala. On Tuesday afternoon, Advait’s body was cremated at his hometown in Thrissur.

Advait completed his primary and secondary education in Muscat and joined SVNIT three years ago after clearing the entrance exams under the NRI quota.

Ajith said, “Advait had visited Oman in June and spent some time with his family. He also came to our native place, Thrissur, in September, met his cousins and other relatives, and spent nearly two weeks there. He was an introverted kind of person. He appeared normal and enjoyed staying with his cousins here.”

‘Bright student, declining performance’

SVNIT Registrar K K Singh said Advait was a “bright student” and that his “performance declined” of late.
“Advait was a highly regarded student of the Computer Science Engineering department. In the first year, he performed well, earning an overall CGPA of 8 out of 10. In the second year, his CGPA was over 7, and in the third year, it was close to 7. Since August 2025, his performance has declined, and he has been irregular in classes and has remained alone in his hostel room. He did not appear in the 5th Semester exams, which were completed last week.”

On Monday afternoon, a group of students of SVNIT staged a protest outside the Administrative building on the campus, demanding a probe into Advait’s death and action against Chief Warden Amit Solanki over alleged negligence. They also demanded that the medical clinic on campus remain open 24×7.

After the protest, Chief Warden Amit Solanki was suspended, Singh said. The SVNIT also set up a fact-finding team comprising professors, who will report to us on why such an incident occurred, what went wrong, and what should be done to prevent such incidents in the future, the registrar said.

“We have a Chief Medical Officer, a contractual doctor and a few nurses at our clinic on the campus. The clinic runs during the day. In response to students’ demand, we have started procedures to hire more medical staff to keep the medical dispensary open throughout the night,” Singh said.

On Tuesday evening, SVNIT teachers and students gathered in an open area near the administrative building, where a photo of Advait Nair was placed, and they observed two minutes of mourning.

Kerala Samaj Surat president Sunil Nambiar said, “After this incident, we contacted SVNIT authorities. We told them that if Advait was a bright student who scored over 8 CGPA in the first year and later his scores declined, the institution authorities should have spoken to his parents or relatives. If the college authorities had promptly informed his parents, such an incident could have been avoided.”