National student kills himself

MUMBAI, March 10: Mystery shrouds the death of an 18-year-old student of R D National College in Bandra who committed suicide on Monday nigh...

MUMBAI, March 10: Mystery shrouds the death of an 18-year-old student of R D National College in Bandra who committed suicide on Monday night, allegedly because he failed to get his examination hall ticket.

Viraj Singh consumed Tik 20, a pesticide, at his residence at Versova apparently because he could not cope with the tension that has preceded this year8217;s Higher Secondary Course HSC examination and since he had not yet received his hall ticket. He was rushed to the Nanavati hospital where he was declared dead at 8.20 pm.

But Viraj8217;s parents had a different story to tell the D N Nagar police who are investigating the case. His mother, in her statement, claimed Viraj had mistaken the pesticide for a cough syrup. But a senior official at the station expressed doubts about the veracity of the statement.

Viraj had been contemplating the act for the past few weeks according to his close friends. 8220;Viraj used to remain very depressed in college and what perhaps triggered the act was the HSC exam tensionand unavailability of hall tickets,8221; said one of his acquaintances. Sources said he had, in fact, written a letter to his younger brother attributing exam stress and the delay in receiving the hall tickets as the overriding factors for his suicide.

Coming from an affluent family Viraj was a bright student who had participated in the National Bournvita quiz contest a few years ago. His father Satyendra Pal Choudhary is a film producer and friendly with many of the top administrators in the city. Former city police commissioner Ramdeo Tyagi and additional police commissioner north west Satyapal Singh attended the funeral on Monday.

Senior educationists in the city have expressed shock over the incident. Principal D B Kadam of Bhavan8217;s College, Andheri stated, 8220;This is really sad because just two days ago we had held a big seminar attended by over 125 professors of various colleges and the topic of discussion was prevention and management of student suicides8217;.8221; He added that the strike by thenon-teaching staff has already made students anxious about the scheduled conduct of the exams and it is mainly due to the strike that students in over 40 colleges have not received the hall tickets.

However, the principal of R D National college, R P Bijani disclaimed any knowledge of the suicide. 8220;This is for the first time I have heard about this case. I don8217;t even know whether he is from my college,8221; he said. He further said that he could confirm it only after checking the college register tomorrow. He also claimed that the hall tickets had been issued a few days back in his college and that there was no reason for any student of his college to commit suicide over it.