Scolded by father for buying I-Phone, 17-year-old ends life

A 17-year-old college student was found hanging from a tree near Kalyan railway track in Mumbai. One of the two mobile phones in his pocket was ringing.

A 17-year-old college student was found hanging from a tree near the Kalyan railway track on Monday night, police said and added it was a suspected case of suicide.

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One of the two mobile phones - an iPhone 14 and a Redmi android phone – found in his pocket was ringing and on answering it, the police found that his relatives, who live in Gazipur district in Uttar Pradesh, were trying to reach him, Ashok Honmane, senior police inspector at Mahatma Phule police station, said.

Investigation revealed that the boy, who resided with his parents and two sisters, had passed his Class XII exams with a score of 48% and had come to his uncle’s home in Mira Road one week ago to explore the options for further studies in Mumbai.

Honmane said the boy’s father had kept ₹1 lakh in cash in their cupboard. Two days ago, he discovered that the cash was missing, and when he called up his son, the latter admitted that he had taken the money and bought an I-phone with it, the police officer said.

“The father scolded him, saying he had saved his hard-earned money to spend it on the marriage of his two daughters. Upset, the boy left his uncle’s house on Monday without informing anyone about it,” Honmane said.

The Mahatma Phule police have filed an accidental death report. The body was handed over to the family for final rites after a post-mortem and conducting panchnama, the police said.

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