IIT Roorkee student hangs himself

Perumal, who comes from a village in Tamil Nadu’s Dindigul district, had joined the Chemistry department only this year. He left no suicide note. Police, however, are certain he committed suicide since the room was bolted from inside. Major R.K. Verma (retd), the security in-charge at IIT Roorkee, agrees. Neither his parents nor friends, however, know why he might have taken the drastic step. ‘‘He was a very shy student and also had a language barrier here,’’ his roommate Abbas told police.

Perumal’s friends, however, had planned a birthday bash for him on Friday night and had called him for dinner in the evening. Perumal sent them away, saying he had to study. When they returned to his room at Kotle Bhawan Hostel to take him to the party, Perumal did not open the door despite repeated knocks. ‘‘When we returned at night for the celebrations, he did not respond to repeated knocks…Ultimately, we broke the door open,’’ Abbas says. Perumal was found hanging from the fan with a rope around his neck.