Accused of shoplifting, student jumps from 17th floor in Greater Noida
Police found a four-page suicide note in her flat in which she accused her flatmates of informing her parents about the theft allegation following which they decided to visit her. She accused her flatmates of attacking her with an empty beer bottle.
A 21-year-old engineering student committed suicide on Wednesday by jumping from her building’s 17th floor, allegedly wary of facing her parents after her flatmates told them about a shoplifting accusation against her.
Security guards at NRI City Residential Society, where Ritu Yadav (21) shared a flat with four others, heard a thud. When they rushed to check, they found Yadav lying on the ground in a pool of blood.
“The security guards informed the police and rushed her to a nearby hospital where she was declared dead on arrival,” said Anil Pratap Singh, station house officer (SHO), Kasna, Greater Noida.
Yadav’s friends told police that the owner of a departmental store in the locality accused Yadav of stealing from his shop a couple of days ago. He threatened to complain to the police.
“We have recovered a four-page suicide note from her flat in which she has accused her flatmates of informing her parents about the theft allegation following which they decided to visit her. She accused her flatmates of attacking her with an empty beer bottle,” police said.
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A case was registered against the four roommates on the basis of a written complaint by Yadav’s parents, police said.
Ritu was apprehensive about her parents’ reaction. The first-year BTech student shared a flat on the 14th floor of the high-rise. An FIR for abetment to suicide was registered against her four flatmates, police added.
He said prima facie it looked like suicide. “We are investigating it from other angles. We have not found any signs of scuffle in her flat. Her flatmates were unaware of the incident till the security guards informed them,” said Singh.
Yadav was from Lucknow and moved to the city about a year ago.
“The body was sent for postmortem, reports of which are awaited. We have informed the family of the deceased. The body will be handed over to them once the postmortem is completed,” said Singh.
“Her flatmates and the shopkeeper who accused her of shoplifting will be called for questioning. We have also sought the entry register of the society and the CCTV footage of relevant areas for investigation,” said Singh.