IIT student found dead in Vizag lodge

A 26-year-old student of IIT-Mumbai was found dead under suspicious circumstances in a hotel room at Dwarakanagar here on Saturday.

S. Sivateja came to the city a few days ago and checked into a lodge at Dwarakanagar on January 16. He was last seen by the hotel staff when he came out of his room on Friday and asked for a water bottle.

Though the hotel staff knocked on his door during lunch and dinner time, he did not respond. The house keeping staff who went to the room on Saturday morning around 8:30 a.m., alerted the hotel management when he failed to open the door.

On being informed, the Fourth Town police broke open the door and found Sivateja’s body in the bathroom.

He reportedly put a plastic cover over his head and fixed it with a tape around the neck. The police found dismantled components of his cell phone, an identity card and other personal belongings in the room.

The police fixed all the components of the cell phone and contacted his parents, who live in Hyderabad.

Sivateja’s parents had lodged a missing complaint with the Mumbai Police a few days ago, after they failed to contact him.

Police suspect that Sivateja had committed suicide.

Hyderabad Special Correspondent writes: Neighbours of Sivateja’s family at Sairamnagar Colony at A.S. Rao Nagar said they know very little about Teja’s father Rajashekhar Reddy.

“He was apparently worried after learning that his son was missing and went to Mumbai to trace him when the news about Teja being found dead in a lodge in Visakhapatnam reached here,” a neighbour said.