University of Hyderabad research scholar commits suicide
Vishal Tandon had sent an email to his sister in Mumbai before the incident saying he was disappointed as there was no achievement in his life.
A PhD scholar of University of Hyderabad allegedly committed suicide on Saturday afternoon, PTI reported. Vishal Tandon, believed to be in his late thirties, was conducting research on “Muslim Masculinities in Crisis: A Queer Reading of Hindi Films” as part of his PhD. Tandon, who was pursuing his PhD with the Centre for Women Studies at the varsity, had already completed two and half years of research on the topic.
He had sent an email to his sister in Mumbai before the incident, Chandanagar police inspector N Tirupati Rao said. Tandon wrote in the email that he was disappointed as there was no achievement in his life and that his “career had no clarity”, the official said.
“The incident took place at around 4 pm,” Rao was quoted as saying by the news agency. “We have informed his sister and mother. They are on the way here. The body was sent for autopsy,” Rao said that Tandon’s mother, who was staying with him, had left for Mumbai a few days ago, a fact that could have made him more depressed.
“He said that he could not build his career the way he wanted to,” Rao was quoted as saying by Telangana Today. “Sensing something wrong, his sister alerted a common friend. However, but by then, it was too late.”
A case has been registered by the Chandanagar Police and is being investigated. Rao said Tandon’s family did not raise any suspicion over the death and that Tandon’s body had been shifted to the Gandhi Hospital morgue.
Earlier, the suicide of research scholar Rohith Vemula in Hyderabad University campus had sparked protests across the country over caste discrimination in the university campus. Vemula, a Dalit scholar at the Hyderabad university, had committed suicide on January 17, 2016, accusing the administration of caste-based discrimination. Vice Chancellor Appa Rao Podile was named in the FIR filed in the case along with Union minister Bandaru Dattatreya.