Hyderabad: A fine arts student at the University of Hyderabad, which was rocked by the suicide of PhD scholar Rohith Vemula earlier this year, allegedly committed suicide in his hostel room in the wee hours on Saturday apparently under depression, police said.
Nelli Praveen Kumar, aged about 25, a first semester student of Master of Fine Arts (MFA) course of Department of Fine Arts, Sarojini Naidu School of Arts and Communication, was found hanging from ceiling in the room at about 4.15 AM, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Madhapur) Kartikeya told reporters. As per the information available so far, Praveen belongs to a backward caste, the DCP said.
Praveen’s roommate, M Raj, who is also his classmate, returned from his painting studio and found the room latched from inside. When Praveen did not open the door despite several knocks, his roommate alerted other students in the hostel. They managed to push the door open and found him (Praveen) hanging from the ceiling, he said. “Praveen was immediately shifted to the University Health Centre. After preliminary examination by the medical officer, he was rushed to a private hospital. After examining him, doctors declared him dead,” the senior police officer said.
On receiving information, police reached the hospital and one team went to the hostel room and recovered a laptop, a tablet, two cell phones and two notebooks after a search. “In one of the notebooks, a note has been found, which is believed to have been written by the deceased, but the handwriting has to be compared for which it will be sent to forensic science laboratory,” the DCP said.
