First year medical student in Andhra’s Kurnool commits suicide allegedly due to ragging
The body of Komma Harsha Praneeth Reddy (20), hailing from Aravindnagar in Kadapa town, was found hanging from his hostel room late on Thursday night by his friends.
A first year MBBS student allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself in his hostel room in Kurnool’s Government Medical College in Andhra Pradesh.
The body of Komma Harsha Praneeth Reddy (20), hailing from Aravindnagar in Kadapa town, was found hanging from his hostel room late on Thursday night by his friends.
Reddy’s father has alleged ragging and assault by his seniors, but the college management has refuted the allegations.
Reddy went to his room at about 11.30 pm. Around midnight, one of his classmates went to his room to borrow some books, but the door was locked and there was no response despite repeated knocking, police said quoting his hostel mates.
The hostel mates then broke open the door and found Reddy hanging from the ceiling fan. They immediately brought his body down and took him to a hospital attached to the medical college, where he was declared dead, police said.
The students immediately informed the police and the college management, who in turn informed his father Ramanujulu Reddy in Kadapa.
Ramanujulu Reddy said his son might have committed suicide as he was unable to bear ragging by his seniors. He also suspected that seniors might have thrashed him as part of ragging, as there were some injuries on his body.
“My son was a sensitive person, but not timid. He called me and complained to me several times about ragging by seniors in the hostel and the college. I used to console him saying incidents of ragging are very common in professional colleges and advised him not to take them seriously but focus on his career. I also brought it to the notice of the college management a couple of times, but they did not take it seriously,” Ramanujulu Reddy said.
Kurnool Medical College principal G S Ramprasad refuted allegations of ragging in the college, as it was strictly banned.
“We have not received any complaints of ragging from the juniors so far. We suspect that he might have been under pressure for facing the semester examinations that was to commence shortly,” the principal said.
The Kurnool police have booked a case of suspicious death and are investigating the death. “We will take into cognisance the suspicion of the deceased’s father,” the police said.
