A research scholar of the University of Hyderabad (UoH) committed suicide by consuming a poisonous substance in his hostel room at Gachibowli on Saturday night as he was depressed over not being provided a guide, the police said.
Students affiliated to different unions staged a protest in front of the administrative block holding the varsity responsible for the death of the student, M. Venkatesh (26). They strongly denounced the attitude of officials, alleging he was not provided a guide as he was a Dalit. Some relatives of the deceased also held a protest alleging that he was harassed by a professor and demanded justice. Police officials intervened and pacified them.
Venkatesh, hailing from Lingampally village of Manchal mandal in Ranga Reddy district, was a Ph.D scholar pursuing third-year Advanced Centre for Research in High Energy Material (Chemistry). The university had attached a professor, Tiwari, as a guide to Venkatesh. After the professor’s retirement in May , he was attached to a post-doctoral fellow scholar. Since then, he was said to be in a state of depression and took the extreme step , the police explained.
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His friends grew suspicious when he failed to come for breakfast on Sunday morning. They went to his room and found him in an unconscious state. They first rushed Venkatesh to the university health centre and later to a private hospital where doctors declared him dead on arrival, said Chandanagar Inspector N. Vasu.
The police found ammonium phosphate powder along with rat poison in his bag. Based on a complaint lodged by Venkatesh’s brother Raju, the police booked a case and further investigations are on.