Engineering student from AP dies by suicide due to ragging

Deceased student's parents alleged that the senior students used to demand beers and biryani from their son and snatch his phone.

Kavali: The parents of an engineering student at the RSR Engineering College, Kavali in Andhra Pradesh's Nellore district, who was crushed to death by a train on Saturday alleged a foul play saying their son was forced to die by suicide due to harassment by seniors on the pretext of ragging. The deceased student Pradeep, a second year student at the RSR Engineering College, Kavali was found dead on the railway track in Kavali on Saturday.

Pradeep had come to his aunt's house in Kalugolammapet on Mahashivratri. Initially, it was believed to be an accidental death. It was said that Pradeep might have been crushed by the moving train while trying to cross the track. But, the parents of the deceased have alleged that their son was harassed by his seniors at the RSR Engineering College, Kavali, which forced him to take the extreme step.

The allegations have given a new twist to the case with police taking up fresh investigation. T Penchalaiah, father of the deceased and his mother Lakshmi Kumari, residents of Sankaranagaram village of Ananta Sagaram mandal claimed that Pradeep died by suicide by jumping in front of the running train due to the seniors' harassment at the college run by MLA Ramireddy Pratap Kumar Reddy at Kadanutala in Bogole mandal.

The couple alleged that the senior students as well as outsiders at the college used to exert pressure on their son to provide them the phone numbers of female students in his class. They used to demand beers and biryani from Pradeep and snatch his phone, his parents alleged. They said that they even asked the management for the discharge certificate, but to no avail.

“We even told the teachers about this. My son told us a week ago that the ragging of the seniors increased after the complaint. He said that if he left the hostel, he was threatened that he would not be allowed to write the exams and was also threatened with dire consequences,” Pradeep's father said. ''Our child was very much scared.. but we did not expect that he would take his life. Our hearts are broken to know that he died after falling under the train on Saturday night," he said. Railway SSI of Kavali Aruna Kumari said that they will transfer the case to Bitragunta station for probe.