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Prima facie, the police suspect it to be a case of suicide. "We are awaiting the post-mortem report from the Sassoon hospital where the body was removed after the incident came to light," said a police officer associated with the investigation.
The college authorities have described the incident as "very unfortunate" but have categorically ruled out any possibility of ragging behind the death. "We all are shocked and surprised. Even Rishik's parents, who live in Hyderabad, and his uncle as well as local guardian, who resides in Pune, were surprised on learning about his death," SIMC director Anupam Siddharth told TOI.
The SIMC is one of the three institutes that operate from the Symbiosis sprawling under-graduate studies campus at Vimanagarnagar off the Ahmednagar road in eastern Pune. The other two institutes offer degree courses in design and business administration.
Collectively, the Vimannagar campus has 2,000 students while the boys and girls hostels are also located on the same premises with a capacity of 400 and 1,000 seats, respectively.
Siddharth said, "Rishik had joined SIMC in July along with most of his first-year colleagues. He was living in one of the hostel rooms that had a capacity to accommodate two boys. Between 4pm and 5pm on Thursday, his roommate Jay Vinayak, a second-year student from Kanpur, returned from college and tried to open the door when he realized it was locked from inside. After calling out in vain for Rishik to open the door, Jay peeped inside the room from the ventilator. He found Rishik hanging from the ceiling fan and immediately reported the matter to me."
Siddharth said, "We rushed to the room and the campus doctor was also summoned, but unfortunately we had lost him. The police were summoned to the spot and the body was removed to the Sassoon hospital for post mortem.
"Asked what could have been the reason behind the death, Siddharth said, " It is very difficult from our position to judge as to what might have happened. Rishik was just like most other fresh students, who had joined the campus in July. We have hardly interacted with him on a scale to know his nature, likes and dislikes. Even our first exam has just been completed and we are yet to declare the results."
Siddharth said, "What we learn from his colleagues on campus is that Rishik was very happy. In fact, last night he had submitted his entry for an on-campus film festival, which is to begin tomorrow. If there was anything amiss, he had never complained or reported the same either to the college authorities or to his parents and local guardian.
(Times Of India)
