The half-burnt body of a tall and well-built post-graduate medical student in Puducherry was found in the compound of a bungalow near Bear Shola Falls Road here on Sunday.
The police identified him as Rahul Radhakrishnan Nair (29), a native of Pathanamthitta in Kerala. They found that he had purchased bandage cloth and a lighter from shops in the town. He was thought to have covered his body with the bandage and set himself on fire, the police said.
A case was registered under Section 174 of the Criminal Procedure Code. The body was removed to the Kodaikanal Government Hospital for post mortem examination.
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His sister Parvathy, who reached the hill station from Pathanamthitta along with his father Radhakrishnan on Monday, identified the body.
Doctors at the government hospital completed the post-mortem examination by Sunday evening. The police said the relatives had plans to bury the body in Kodaikanal.
Dr. Rahul did his MBBS at a medical college in Puducherry. Later, he joined the Mahatma Gandhi Medical College and Research Institute in Puducherry to do his M.D. in General Medicine. He came to Kodaikanal on September 10 and stayed in a lodge till September 11.
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The family owns a bungalow in the Bear Shola Fall area. His sister and father are doctors. Relatives said Rahul's parents had purchased the bungalow in his name.
D.R. Gunasekaran, Vice-Chancellor of the Balaji Vidyapeeth which runs the medical college, described Rahul as a studious and disciplined student with a clean record. Rahul had been deputed for a “peripheral posting” to Apollo Hospitals in Chennai from where he was supposed to go to Bangalore on October 1 for another deputation.
Mr. Gunasekaran said the college was not aware of his visit to Kodaikanal.
Staff Reporter adds from Pathanamthitta:
Rahul's father runs a hospital in Pathanamthitta town. His mother is a retired college teacher. A young friend of Rahul said in Pathanamthitta that Rahul's Orkut account and e-mail account were found to have been deleted by Sunday.