Sunday, September 23, 2018

IIT-M student ends life, but hasn’t left any suicide note

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:23.09.2018

A 23-year-old student of IIT-Madras was found dead in his hostel room on Saturday morning. Police said he had hanged himself, but did not leave a suicide note. Shahal Kormath, who hailed from Manjeri in Kerala’s Malappuram district, was a final year student of the B Tech-M Tech (Dual Degree) naval architecture programme. A friend raised the alarm around 8am when Shahal did not answer the door. He alerted hostel warden Raguram Reddy who informed police.

Kotturpuram police broke open room 121 to find Shahal hanging from a noose tied to the ceiling fan. Police have sent the body to Government Royapettah Hospital for an autopsy.

Sources, requesting anonymity, told TOI that Shahal had been facing problems due to attendance shortage. IIT director Baskar Ramamurthi said “Kormath was not a topper but he did not have backlogs for the first seven semesters.”



‘Student’s performance dropped last semester’

The institute’s director Bhaskar Ramamurthi said, “His performance dropped in the last semester.We advised him to go for counselling but he decided to take help from his friends. That did not work.”

The IIT administration had informed his parents that he was short of attendance this semester. Subsequently, his brother in Bengaluru called and chided him. On Friday alone, Shahal apparently received several calls from his brother Fazil Kormath. Fazil told the Kotturpuram police that his brother had refused to answer when he called later to apologise for yelling at him.

“Most students who join IIT clear very tough entrances. Most of the time there is a strong reason for performances to drop. He and his friends did not realise that they will not be able to handle their problems without professional help,” added Ramamurthi.

› RELATED REPORT, P 4

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