A 29-year-old woman postdoctoral research scholar of IIT-Madras was found dead on the railway track near the Avadi railway station under suspicious circumstances, the police said.
On Thursday, a woman’s body was found on the stretch between the Avadi and Hindu College stations. The Government Railway Police (GRP) recovered it and conducted an investigation.
Later, the body was identified as Megashree Padhan, a native of Odisha. She had completed her Ph.D. in mechanical engineering and had recently enrolled as a postdoctoral research scholar at IIT-Madras. She had been planning to go abroad and had been staying in the institution hostel, the police said.
On Wednesday, Megashree had left the hostel to meet her friend in Avadi. When she failed to return, her roommates suspected that she could have stayed over at her friend’s house. The next day, railway staff and locals spotted the body and informed the authorities. The body was sent to the Government Kilpauk Medical College Hospital for a post-mortem.
In the meantime, her friends in the hostel lodged a missing persons complaint with the Shastri Nagar police as her mobile was not reachable. The information provided by Megashree’s friends was passed on to the GRP, who identified the body.
The police are investigating whether it was an accidental fall or suicide. The body was handed over to the victim’s parents, who came from Odisha.
(Assistance for those having suicidal thoughts is available on Tamil Nadu’s health helpline 104 and Sneha’s suicide prevention helpline 044-24640050)
