Weak in English, engineering student hangs self

Twenty-year-old R Arulraj left a suicide note in which he said that since he had studied in a Tamil-medium school, he could not understand what was being taught in college as they used English.

Arulraj was the son of a farmer from Chidambaram and was a student of Krishna Engineering College in Padappai near Tambaram. According to the police, Arulraj had 12 arrears and was depressed about it which led him to commit suicide.

On Tuesday, while his roommates were getting ready for college, Arulraj told them that he would come to the class a bit late but failed to turn up at all. Later in the evening, when his friends returned, they could not find Arulraj and complained to the warden. Later that night, the hostel staff found that a vacant room on the fourth floor was locked from inside. Once the door was broken, Arulraj was found hanging from the ceiling fan. The staff then informed the police who found the suicide note in his pocket.

In it, Arulraj claimed that he came from a poor family and had studied in a Tamil-medium school and could not understand the subjects that were taught in English at the college. He also said that he could not fulfil his brother’s wish of becoming an engineer and that he owed Rs 700 to a few of his friends and requested his brother to settle the dues. His body was sent to Sriperumbadur Government Hospital for autopsy.