Uttar Pradesh: College principal, 4 others book in alleged suicide case

Following the alleged death by suicide of a medical student in Uttar Pradesh, police have booked five people, including the college principal, in connection with the case. On Saturday, December 3, the student was found hanging from the ceiling of his hostel room at the Autonomous State Medical College in Firozabad.

The victim has been identified as Shailendra Shankhwar. He was a first-year student at the college, aged 21 years. A police complaint was lodged by Uday Singh Shankhwar, the student's father. Based on it, apart from the principal (Dr Sangeeta Aneja), the Controller of Examination Gaurav Singh has also been booked under Section 306 (Abetment of Suicide) of the IPC, informed Additional Superintendent of Police (City) Sarvesh Kumar Mishra, as per a report by PTI.

According to Mishra, the father has alleged that on the directions of the principal, Singh had threatened not to allow Shailendra to sit in an examination. "Casteist remarks were also allegedly hurled at him," the police official said. Meanwhile, District Magistrate Ravi Ranjan said that a committee has also been formed to probe the incident.

"The last rites of the student were conducted amid tight security on Sunday (December 4)," the police said. The officials also informed that the post-mortem examination of the deceased has also been done.

According to the police, Shankhwar had an exam on December 3. "After he did not reach the examination hall, the college staff went to his hostel room to check on him and found it locked from the inside. The staff broke open the door and found Shankhwar, a first-year MBBS student, hanging from the ceiling," Mishra said.

On coming to know of the alleged suicide, students blocked the highway in front of the Firozabad district hospital nearly for four hours, demanding action against the college principal and the hostel warden. Police officials managed to persuade the students to clear the highway, as per PTI.