In a tragic incident, a second-year BTech student at Pandit Deendayal Energy University (PDEU) jumped to her death from the terrace of her hostel building on Monday morning.
The student, Payal Gupte, 20, was taken to a private hospital in Gandhinagar where she was declared dead. Infocity police station officials have registered a case of accidental death and started an investigation.
A resident of Aurangabad in Maharashtra, Payal was reportedly suffering from depression. She had written in her diary that she found life to be meaningless. “Police have found notes in her diary which suggest she was depressed due to various reasons. One of the entries said that she found her life meaningless.” Another entry had the drawing of a stone, said sources.
Called mother
She had spoken to her mother for about six minutes on the phone before taking the extreme step, sources said. On the morning that she jumped, a security guard heard a thud and found her body. He then alerted the authorities, police sources said.
Payal had not gone home for the extended Holi weekend. Her grief-stricken family reached Gandhinagar and took her remains to Aurangabad for the last rites. The statements of her family members have not been recorded as yet.
“As a university, we are all grieved by the untimely death of our student. We are rendering all support to her parents. The university will keep striving to ensure the physical and mental well-being of all with affirmative actions,” an official statement from PDEU said.
University sources said Payal was a fourth-semester student at the School of Technology (SOT). She could not clear some subjects in the previous two semesters. However, university sources did not feel that academic pressure was behind the drastic step. “Students get time till their graduation to clear their backlog,” said a university official.
There is also a peer support group for students at the hostels and on campus. The university is yet to gather all details of the incident, sources added.
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