Mumbai student’s posts on suicide show he was asking for help, say cops

The Bandra police, investigating the suicide of a 23-year-old Arjun Bharadwaj on Monday night, said he had been writing about suicide on his Facebook page for few days and that the posts may have been a call for help.

The Bandra police, investigating the suicide of a 23-year-old Arjun Bharadwaj on Monday night, said he had been writing about suicide on his Facebook page for few days and that the posts may have been a call for help. As part of the investigation, his mobile phone has been sent for forensic analysis to help the police learn more about his activities.

Arjun Bharadwaj (Facebook)

Bharadwaj jumped off the 19th floor of a five-star hotel at Bandstand on Monday evening after writing several suicide notes and uploading a video of himself – which he termed a suicide tutorial – on Facebook. The Mumbai police have blocked the video on the grounds that it could influence others and have also requested the media not to publish it.

Bharadwaj lived alone at Andheri, the police said. His father had come to Mumbai from Bengaluru three days ago after his son’s friends told him about the Facebook posts on suicide. On Saturday, Bharadwaj’s father met him and tried to speak to him out but to no avail.

Senior police inspector Pandit Thakare of Bandra police station said, “His friends and family members were to meet us today but couldn’t. We respect their privacy. We will speak to them in the next few days.”

Bharadwaj, the Bandra police said, had several issues. He had failed in college and was unable to clear his the third year of his BCom course. His father was a retired businessman and so there was immense pressure on him to complete his studies and get a job to support the family of four. His only sibling, a younger brother, is in Class 10.

Because of these problems, the police said, he had slipped into depression and gradually taken to drugs. “He also consumed liquor before taking his life, which is a very common among people before they commit suicide,” said a doctor at a post mortem centre.

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Man posts video on how to commit suicide, jumps from 19th floor of Mumbai hotel