Patna medico kills self, family alleges ragging

A first year student of Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) committed suicide after being allegedly harassed by his seniors. The body of 18-year-old Sunny Kumar Roshan was recovered from a private lodge under Sultanganj police station of the state capital on Wednesday. The body was taken to his Chapra residence by his family after the post- mortem. The police said they did not find any suicide note from his room.


Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar on Thursday ordered a joint probe by Patna's district magistrate Jitendra Kumar Sinha and senior superintendent of police B. S. Meena after the boy's family alleged that Sunny had taken the extreme step due to constant harassment by his seniors on the college campus.

"I have asked the Patna DM and SSP to probe the suicide by the medical student in view of his family's suspicion about ragging," Nitish said.

Sunny, a resident of Saran district, was living at the Mehendra Prasad lodge in the Mahendru area where his body was found hanging from the ceiling fan.

His father Kameshwar Ram, a bank employee, said he often complained about harassment by his seniors at the college.

"He told me that the seniors often ragged him on the college campus. They used to chase him to his classes and would leave only upon the arrival of the teachers," the victim's father said.

Family members said Sunny was also tense because his seniors had demanded ` 1,200 from him in the name of donation for the upcoming Saraswati Puja.

Anil Kumar, one of Sunny's friends, said he was very upset after he returned from the college where he had gone to give donation for the Saraswati Puja on Tuesday.

"He just collapsed on the bed and was crying. I kept asking why he was upset but he did not tell me," he said.

The SHO of Sultanganj police station Nand Kishore Rajak said the boy had locked his door and apparently committed suicide on Tuesday night itself but the matter came to light on Wednesday around 7 pm when the door of the lodge was broken open.

The Patna SSP, who also visited the lodge where Sunny had been living, said he found no evidence to suggest that ragging prompted Sunny to end his life.

" His father has not mentioned ragging in his statement to the police," he said.

Meena said the police had recovered a diary from Sunny's room which contained telephone numbers of some of his friends. " We have talked to each one of them but none of them told us anything about ragging," he added.

The PMCH administration denied the charges of ragging and extortion of money from students in the name of donation for the Saraswati Puja.

College sources added that Sunny had attended barely onethird of his theory and practical classes. The police said Sunny had appeared in a semester examination from January 15 to 24 and had apparently not done well.

In a separate incident on Thursday, Ashwani Pratap, an MBA student, was found hanging from a ceiling fan at his house in Patna.

The deceased was a student of a Pune college and was under treatment for depression.