Following the suicide of third-year engineering student S. Manivannan, the police on Thursday enquired with students of Anna University seeking clues to his death. “We spoke to students — those who stay in the hostel and those who were in touch with him regularly. There is no suspicion on anyone,” said police sources.
They found nothing unusual in his phone, only a few downloaded comedy scenes and songs from Tamil films. “He had a very basic phone that cannot maintain a record of more than 20 calls. The missed-call records had only the numbers of friends who were calling him when he locked himself on Tuesday morning,” said an official who had inspected Manivannan's phone under the supervision of Joint Commissioner of Police (East) S.N. Seshasai.
“We have asked for records of his earlier calls,” the official said.
Police sources added that some students said Manivannan was upset because the publication of his poetry book was being delayed by a few senior students.
“He had already sought permission from the vice-chancellor and the book was expected to come out in February but it was stalled. It was supposed to come out on April 4,” said a police official.
The boy, a high scorer in school, had secured over 90 per cent even in the first semester but had started failing in several subjects once he entered the second semester. He had not appeared for a few exams of the last semester too. Manivannan's brother Mathivanan said that though his brother was involved with a girl when he was in Dharmapuri, they were not in touch for almost two years now. “They used to have problems so we persuaded him not to get into it much. He immersed himself into poetry thereafter.”
Mathivannan, a class XII student, came to the city along with his mother upon receiving the news of his brother's death. The cremation took place in his hometown on Thursdays.
