Girl watches lover die as suicide stunt goes wrong

Bangalore, May 5: A mere threat turned into tragedy. Haisnam Jakoi, a 22-year-old engineering student, died while trying to stage a suicide drama in front of his girlfriend, Seraphina (19). The plastic chair he was standing on gave way, leaving him dangling from the ceiling fan at his Bannerghatta Road flat here on Thursday.

Haisnam and Seraphina, both from Imphal, had been dating for three years and planned to marry after finishing their education. But their relationship had strained recently. A possessive Haisnam thought his girlfriend was ignoring him. For over a week Seraphina would neither take his calls nor reply to his messages.

On Thursday, the couple fought after they returned to Haisnam's house around 11pm. They went into his room while his three flat-mates stayed outside.

Haisnam continued arguing with Seraphina and warned her that he would kill himself if she ditched him. She was busy sorting out the purchases and did not respond. She later said that he would often hold out such threats and was very possessive.

Haisnam then took out a nylon rope and threatened to hang himself with it if she did not "mend" her ways. To make it clear to Seraphina that he meant what he was saying, Haisnam stood on a chair, tied one end of the rope to the ceiling fan and lowered the other, making a noose out of it and tying it around his neck.

Suddenly, the chair Haisnam was standing on gave way, leaving him dangling in the air. As the noose dug in, he began gasping for breath. "I saw him writhing in pain. I yelled to our friends outside, rushed into the kitchen, took a knife and cut the rope. By then Haisnam was barely breathing," police quoted the girl as saying.

Hearing Seraphina scream, Haisnam's friends rushed in. "We found him gasping for breath. We alerted the neighbours and the police. We took him to St John's hospital, where doctors declared him dead on arrival," Tony Logjam, Haisnam's local guardian, told TOI.

Haisnam was the second son of Haisna Choa, an RTO officer. He stayed with three other Manipuri students in the rented flat.

DCP (south-east) P S Harsha said it appeared that Haisnam threatened Seraphina that he would commit suicide and tried to stage a drama, but things spun out of control. Prima facie it is a case of suicide, he added.