Engineering student attempts suicide after ragging

LUCKNOW - A first year engineering student at a private college in Uttar Pradesh’s Kanpur district attempted suicide after being ragged by some seniors, police said Tuesday.

Vishal Yadav, 18, a B.Tech student of the Pranveer Singh Institute of Technology (PSIT), consumed a mosquito repellant late Monday in his hostel room on the campus. Singh was rushed to a hospital in an unconscious state by his batchmates.

“He is out of danger, but doctors will continue to keep him under observation for the next few days,” Deputy Superintendent of Police Hemlata told reporters Tuesday morning in Kanpur, some 80 km from Lucknow.

“Preliminary investigations reveal the student tried to end his life as he was disturbed over his ragging. We have registered an FIR (first information report) against unidentified students as Vishal is not aware of the names of his seniors involved,” Hemlata said.

“But Vishal is quite sure that he can identify the seniors by their faces. Once he identifies them, an FIR with names would be registered against all of them,” she said.

Police have also sought assistance from the college staff in order to identify the students involved.

“We will extend our full cooperation in the police enquiry,” Rajesh Pandey, a hostel warden of the college, told reporters.

Yadav’s father Hari Shanker, a resident of Hamirpur district, said, “My son was very depressed because of ragging. He used to call up his mother and would ask her to take him back to Hamirpur.”