“He [Muthukrishnan] took up many odd jobs to finance his education at Hyderabad Central University (HCU) and was very keen to finish his M.Phil at JNU and then pursue a career in the civil services. My son had come to JNU to study. Not to die,” said Jeevanandhaam, father of J. Muthukrishnan, the JNU student who was found dead at a house in Munirka Vihar on March 13.
Speaking outside the AIIMS mortuary on Tuesday, Muthukrishnan’s father claimed that he was informed about his son’s death by friends of his son and that till Tuesday evening no phone call or intimation was given to him or his son’s local guardians by the Jawaharlal Nehru University administration.
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No communication
Jeevanandhaam added that it was only when he reached Delhi on Tuesday morning that he was told by his son’s friend that Muthukrishnan had allegedly been facing constant caste-based discrimination and harassment in his academic pursuits from his Centre and the JNU administration.
The father has written to the Delhi Police saying that the death of his son has taken place under “suspicious circumstances” and that he requests them to conduct a thorough investigation into the “suspicious death” and not “suicide” of his son.
He also stated that his son had not been diagnosed with any mental illness and was not under any medication for depression or any other mental illness, contrary to the claims of the Delhi Police.
Muthukrishnan had tried thrice earlier to get into JNU and had finally got admission into M.Phil in July, 2016.
He had been active in the campaign at HCU demanding justice for Rohit Vemula. At JNU, however, he had not joined any political group but had taken to social media to voice his opinion on several issues that the university was facing. He was the second of four siblings.
