Now, suicide by Manipur student in Bangalore

People gather in front of the house where Jakio Heisnam stayed in MICO Layout Police Limits, Bangalore, on Friday. Photo: Ananth Shreyas

An engineering student hailing from Manipur hanged himself at his house in the presence of his girlfriend, who apparently didn't take his threat seriously, in Suddaguntepalya in south Bangalore late Thursday.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (South-East) P.S. Harsha told The Hindu on Friday Jakio Heisnam (23), a final-year mechanical engineering student of Bangalore College of Engineering, took his own life after a spat with his girlfriend, a second-year arts student.

According to the MICO Layout police, when the girlfriend visited him on Thursday night, Heisnam quarrelled with her saying she had not responded to his phone calls for nearly a week.

The fight escalated and around midnight, he took a nylon rope and hanged himself from the ceiling fan even as his girlfriend watched. She told the police that she thought he was “kidding” and so did not stop him. Two other Manipuri students, who shared accommodation with Heisman, were in another room at the time.

The MICO Layout police, who have registered a case of unnatural death, said they were also questioning Heisnam's friends and classmates to ascertain whether there was any other reason for his suicide.

The room is bereft of furniture except for a table, which Heisnam apparently did not use to reach the ceiling fan. The girl told

The Hindu : “I did not take him seriously as this was not the first time he had threatened to kill himself. I was in the room when he used a rope and tried to hang himself.” She said he did it standing on the floor. “After a minute, I came to the kitchen to get a knife and, when I returned to the room to cut the rope, he was lying down.

“Even then I thought he was joking, but when I tried waking him up, he did not respond. We called the ambulance and they declared him dead,” she said.

Arun Yambem, secretary of Publicity and Communication, Manipuri Meitei Association, claimed that “it was a clear case of death due to personal relations. We are waiting for the police reports.