Mumbai: TISS student commits suicide, professor booked for abetment
On Tuesday, a professor of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) was booked for abetment to suicide, after a 24-year-old MBA student of the institute took his own life by jumping off a 14-storey building in Powai. Reportedly, the student, Sanket Tambe, had named the professor, P Vijayakumar, in his suicide note. Till late Wednesday, no arrest had been made. Here's more.
What we know about the student
Sanket was an engineering graduate who had completed his graduation in 2015. He then went on to complete a three-year LLB course, and joined TISS in June this year to pursue an MA in Organisational Development, Change, and Leadership (ODCL). However, his friends told media that he had taken a leave of absence on account of being regularly 'humiliated' by Vijayakumar.
Sanket was known to be kind and talented
"He [Sanket] stopped going to the institute mid-October. He was an extremely talented and kind person. His death comes as a shock," one of Sanket's friends told Mumbai Mirror on the condition of anonymity.
Sanket took his life on Monday night
At 3am on Monday, a guard of the Powai Cosmopolitan Housing Society heard something fall off the terrace. On rushing to the spot, the guard found Sanket lying in a pool of blood. He was declared dead when rushed to a hospital. The student used to live on the first floor of the society with his parents - a judicial officer and a doctor.
Police found a suicide note in Sanket's room
While giving her statement to the police, Sanket's mother Sangeeta said that Vijayakumar used to 'threaten' and taunt the 24-year-old, owing to which he had gone into depression. She also said that they had complained to TISS about the alleged harassment. Subsequent investigations by police revealed that Sanket had left behind a suicide note wherein he had named Vijayakumar.
Vijayakumar has not yet commented on the incident
Based on statements by Sanket's parents, and the suicide note, police subsequently registered a case of abetment to suicide against the professor. Vijayakumar, who is a senior professor at TISS and the chair of the institute's Centre for Social and Organisational Leadership, has been sent on an indefinite leave. TOI reported that despite repeated requests for comments, the professor could not be reached.
