Has reimbursement issue driven Sandhya to suicide?

Hyderabad: The death of Sandhyarani, the BTech second year student of Avanthi College of Engineering who committed suicide by jumping off the college building in Hayathnagar on Wednesday, is snowballing into a major issue as the reasons for her alleged suicide are different from what was reported earlier. Initial probe suggested that there could be a love angle to the case. However, later reports suggested that she took her life after some college staffers reportedly told her that the fee reimbursement was unlikely to be extended as the government had failed to clear the dues and that the students would have to arrange for the tuition fee themselves. A poor girl, Sandhya was crestfallen and decided not to burden her family.

According to sources, Sandhya’s father committed suicide 16 years ago due to financial problems, and her mother took the entire burden of bringing up Sandhya and her brother on to her shoulders.

Sandhya, a brilliant girl right from her childhood, emerged a topper in SSC and Intermediate exams in the district. She secured the engineering seat under the convenor quota and joined Avanthi College with an assurance from the authorities that she would get fee reimbursement. She completed her first year with the help of fee reimbursement scheme and faced an uncertain future at the time of her second year exams.

“I knew Sandhya. She is from a lower middle class family. The college management drove her to depression and forced her to take the extreme step,” Simhadri, sarpanch of the Korutlapet village, told The Hans India.

However, the college management refuted these charges saying that, “None of our staff has told any student that they won’t get fee reimbursement. What we came to know is that she has a marriage issue with her brother-in-law and thought that her mother would not be able to perform it, so she resorted to suicide,” Jayaprada, Director of the college, said.

“Sandhya does not have any brother-in-law at all. The management is trying to subvert the entire issue,” alleged the sarpanch.

The Hayathnagar police, suspecting the role of the management, has booked a case of negligence against it. “There is no love tangle in this matter. Clearly, there is a fee issue. We are also probing on the basis of call data of Sandhya’s mobile,” Venkateswarlu, Circle Inspector of Hayathnagar, said.

Sandhya’s batchmates, on condition of anonymity, confirmed that some of the college staffers had told them too that the reimbursement might take time or even get cancelled in view of the uncertain developments in the State. They felt that Sandhya’s statement to the police before her death should not be taken as authentic.