M.Tech student jumps to death from 7th floor of hostel

Bengaluru, Aug 12: An M.Tech student allegedly jumped to death from the 7th floor of the hostel building inside the premises of International Institute of Information Technology Bangalore (IIIT-B) in Electronics City on Friday.

The victim has been identified as Goluguri Sai Sarat (21), a seventh-semester computer science student hailing from Hyderabad. He is the second son of Kodandarama Reddy, an income tax official, and Sudha Rani, a homemaker. His elder brother, Sathya Raviteja, is studying in the US.

Sarat did not leave behind a suicide note and neither friends nor family were able to offer a reason for his action. He had also erased all incoming and outgoing call numbers from his mobile phone.

Electronic City police said Sarat jumped off the building around 4.50am after returning from a friend's birthday party. "Tapan Bora, a security guard, heard a loud noise and rushed to the spot. To his shock, Bora found Sarat in a pool of blood. His hands and legs were broken and there were severe injuries on his head," said a police officer. "According to doctors, Sarat died instantly".

Police have seized Sarat's mobile phone and will scan call records. "We will get his call detail record (CDR) to find out who he was in regular contact with and to whom his last calls were made," a police officer said.

Hours before his death, police said, Sarat had accompanied 11 friends to a restaurant in BTM Layout to celebrate the birthday of a classmate, Rahul, who was also from Hyderabad. "He went to BTM Layout with his friends around 6pm and after celebrating the party, all of them returned to the hostel by 10.15pm," one of Sarat's hostel mates told police. "Sarat's friends said he was normal during the party," said a police officer.

Rahul said he was clueless about why Sarat had decided to do something so drastic. "Early morning, I received a call from my friends asking me to come down. I was shocked to see Sarat dead," Rahul said. Another friend recalled seeing Sarat settle down in his chair around 11.30pm. No one knows what happened after that.

"I don't know the reason behind his extreme step. He did not disclose anything to me. He had no issues and was happy," Sarat's father Kodandarama Reddy said. Informed by the institute's registrar, Reddy and his wife flew down to Bengaluru. Sarat's mother said his last call to her was on Wednesday. He told her that he would be with Rahul on his birthday. "I did not receive any call from Sarat on Thursday," she said. Electronic City police said that they had registered a case of unnatural death.