[ToI] BIT fresher in hospital, ragging suspected

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2 Aug 2007, 0436 hrs IST,TNN

RANCHI: A fresher at the Birla Institute of Technology at Mesra consumed poison, apparently after going into a bout of depression brought on by ragging. Dharamdas Oraon, enrolled in a biotechnology course, is being treated at a private nursing home in Ranchi. Family sources said Dharamdas had come to Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences on July 27 with complaints of uneasiness. After doctors detected signs of poisoning he was shifted to the nursing home on Wednesday by his family.

Dharamdas got admitted to the college on July 21 and was allotted a room in block III hostel the same day. His family members denied the boy made a suicide bid and instead alleged his seniors might have forced him to consume intoxicating substances.

"Had he consumed poison, he would not have gone to the hospital on his own," his grandfather, Dev Sharan Bhagat, said, adding his behaviour suggested the boy was mentally tortured.

Bhagat said police tried to record his statement but failed to do so. "He seems scared and falls unconscious every time the police arrive to record his statement," he said. The boy’s father, Sohrai Oraon, said his son was admitted to RIMS under mysterious circumstances.