MBBS student hangs himself in hostel room; parents blame ragging

Shivamogga, Oct 24: A first year MBBS student of the Shivamogga Institute of Medical Sciences (SIMS) has committed suicide in his hostel room after he was allegedly ragged by his seniors.

The deceased is Raghu SG (20), who hails from Beguru village in Shikaripur taluk. He had returned to the hostel from his native after a Deepavali break on Sunday evening. He was found hanging from the ceiling fan of his room by his roommates at 6 pm.

Raghu’s father Gurumurthy, an attender at Hosur Government Ayurveda hospital, in a complaint lodged at Doddapete police station, said that his son was depressed because of ragging by his seniors and committed suicide.

When Raghu came home for Deepavali festival, he was talking about doing the homework of his seniors and also mentioned about the torture by them, the father said in his complaint.

According to a roommate, Raghu had returned to the hostel around 4 pm on Sunday. When the roommate who had gone out on some errand and returned to the room found the room bolted from inside, he grew suspicious and told other students. They broke open the door and found Raghu hanging.

It is said the students immediately rushed Raghu to the McGann hospital without informing anyone. Raghu is said to have breathed his last before reaching the hospital.

After the postmortem, his parents took the body to the village. But locals and relatives who decided to take the body back to SIMS to demand action against the warden and college management were dissuaded by police.

Raghu’s maternal uncle Manjunath said the students of the hostel brought the body to Mc-Gann Hospital before the police visited the spot. He said this has created suspicion on the role of the hostel warden and college management.

“This incident might have happened due to ragging. They should have informed the parents and police before taking the body to the hospital. But they did not do that. Hence, we want to take back the body to Shivamogga and protest,” he said.

 Additional Superintendent of Police Mutturaj said that his parents have lodged a complaint saying it’s a suspicious death. They have not directly blamed it on ragging. But they have suspected the role of hostel warden and the police are interrogating him, he said.

 College denies charges

 SIMS Director Dr Sushil Kumar said that they were unaware of the reason for the death. In the last ten years, no complaints of ragging were reported in the college, he said.

 “We have interrogated the students and his roommates. As per the interaction with the students, prima facie, there was no ragging. The Anti-Ragging Committee members of the college held a meeting and took the opinions of all his friends. A report has been sent to the Ministry of Human Resources Development. Now a police case has been registered,” he said.

 According to his roommate Manoj, there was no harassment in the college. He was a bright student and was good in his academics. Manoj said he has no idea as to why Raghu committed suicide.

 Becoming a doctor was his dream

Raghu had set his mind to becoming a doctor. To reach his goal, after failing to get a government medical seat in his first attempt, he attempted CET for the second time in 2017 and got a seat in his home district.

But just a one-and-half month after getting admitted to the Shivamogga Institute of Medical Sciences (SIMS) for MBBS course, he took his life allegedly because of ragging.

 He was the elder son to Gurumurthy. Raghu had failed to get a medical seat in 2016. But after taking coaching in Bengaluru, he got 724 all India rank in medical in NEET and got a government seat in the SIMS.