Manipal, March 18, 2016 : Reports have come in that a student of II Year Chemical Engineering of MIT - Manipal Institute of Technology, who was found in the hostel with acute burns in the early hours of Mar 17, Thursday, later died at the Kasturba Hospital here. According to the police, the student was identified as Neham Agrawal (18) from Faridabad in Uttara Pradesh. Neham had gone to the common hostel bathroom at Block 10 of MIT after midnight. At around 12.30 a.m., some students noticed smoke coming from the bathroom. The students along with block caretakers, warden and security staff then broke open the door of the bathroom.
Neham was found there with acute burns. He was immediately rushed to the Kasturba Hospital, where he breathed his last at around 2.30 p.m. The authorities of MIT informed Neham’s parents about the incident.
Meanwhile, the students of the institute, who wanted to stage a protest over the incident as they thought that the university was passing it off as suicide, backed off after a message by the institute’s director G.K. Prabhu that the police were investigating the case. “We reiterate that all necessary steps will be taken to bring out the truth,” he said in a message to the students. A case of unnatural death has been registered at the Manipal Police Station. Investigation is on.
The police said that a bottle of kerosene was found in the bathroom, where Neham was found with acute burns. This was confirmed by the institute. K. Annamalai, Superintendent of Police, told media that the police were not suspecting any foul play in the case immediately. It appears to be case of suicide by fire. But, we will wait for the autopsy report, before any conclusive verdict is arrived at.