Ranchi, Sep 16 (IANS) A student of the National Institute of Technology (NIT) committed suicide by hanging himself at his college hostel in Jharkhand, police said Wednesday. But the family of the victim alleges that the boy’s death was due to “ragging and torture” by senior students.
Satyendra Kumar Singh, first year Master of Computer Application student at NIT Jamshedpur, killed himself Tuesday. The 22-year-old was a resident of Hazaribagh district of Jharkhand.

“His (Satyendra’s) hostel inmates found that the light of his room was on Tuesday night. From the window they saw him hanging from the ceiling fan,” an official of the NIT told IANS.

He said Satyendra was under depression and was not interacting with other students. “He appeared for his first semester examination that began Monday,” the official added.

But the family of the victim have alleged that Satyendra was “murdered”.

“My son was tortured by the seniors in the institute. My son used to complain about ragging. He was stripped and tortured at midnight by senior students. My son used to call us and inform us about the ragging and torture faced by him,” said Vindu Devi, mother of Satyendra.

A relative of the victim said: “Satyendra was murdered and the murder has been covered up as a suicide case. The institute management admits that he was alive when he was brought down from the ceiling fan. He was declared brought dead by the doctors at Tata Main Hospital.”

Police officials, quoting students and institute authorities, say that prima facie it appeared to be a case of suicide.