Shutdown at NTTF as students intensify stir over mate’s suicide

The Nettur Technical Training Foundation (NTTF) authorities, on Friday, closed the institution for three days, as students protesting a collegemate’s death, intensified the stir.

The students were also banned from entering the college premises in Electronics City.

The students were demanding a probe into the suicide of Mithun, 19, a second year electronics diploma student, who hailed from Kerala.

The protesters took out a rally to the office of the NTTF principal, and were chased away by the police.

The students alleged that harassment by a faculty member had forced Mithun to take the extreme step on Wednesday evening. The deceased had failed to clear an examination.

About 200 students participated in the protest, demanding a probe into the suicide, and appropriate action against the faculty member. They also wanted Mithun’s family to be adequately compensated.

The hostel warden, identified only by his first name Gopi, said the police were investigating the case and the college would act based on the probe report. 

“He (Mithun) had not left any death note, and hence we cannot say that he died because of the harassment from the faculty. The management will take action if the faculty is found guilty,” Gopi added.

The protest was intensified after the college authorities claimed that a failed love affair prompted the boy to hang himself in his hostel room. Mithun’s close friends and classmates pooh-poohed the claim and accused the college of spreading canards in collusion with a local private television channel.

“The management is trying to bury the real issue by raising false and baseless claims,” Ajith, a classmate of the deceased, said.