Govt college student dies by suicide in hostel, police finds note blaming female college mate

MANDI: A student of a government college was found hanging in his hostel room in Himachal Pradesh's Mandi district with police recovering a suicide note in which he blamed a female collegemate for him taking the extreme step, officials said on Sunday.

The incident came to light on Saturday when other students, of Jawahar Lal Nehru Engineering College, Sundernagar, knocked on the door of Arpit Sharma, a fourth semester Computer Science student, and they broke it down upon receiving no response. Rushing into the room they found Sharma's body hanging with a belt.

Police recovered a suicide note from his room which revealed that the extreme step was taken on account of an ongoing affair, following which a second-semester female student of the college was arrested for abetting suicide. She was booked under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita Section 108 (abetment of suicide) based on the complaint of Sharma's mother who alleged that her son killed self after being blackmailed by the accused.

The body has been handed over to the family members following a postmortem, police said. The accused was produced before the court of Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Sundernagar. She has been remanded to two days police custody, they added.

Note under every copy mentioning suicide: If you know someone – friend or family member – at risk of suicide, please reach out to them. Those in distress or having suicidal thoughts or tendencies could seek help and counselling by calling 9820466726 or visiting AASRA’s official website or can call iCALL on 9152987821. Here are some more helpline numbers of suicide prevention organisations that can offer emotional support to individuals and families.