A 20-year-old first-year B.Tech student from the Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT )Allahabad, identified as Madala Rahul Chaitanya, tragically ended his life by jumping from the fifth floor of his hostel, police said on Sunday.

Chaitanya, who had a hearing impairment, took the extreme step on Saturday night. According to Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Dhoomanganj, Ajendra Yadav, the police rushed him to SRN Hospital after receiving the information, but he succumbed to his injuries during treatment.

IIIT Public Relations officer Pankaj Mishra told PTI that Chaitanya was admitted under the deaf-and-mute category. He had not attended classes for the past three months and was reportedly struggling with academic pressure.

Chaitanya, a native of Telangana’s Nizamabad district, had shared his stress with his mother. He had secured admission to IIIT-A with an impressive JEE rank of 52. On his birthday, after a video call with his mother and a message sent around midnight, he took the extreme step.

Mishra further stated that on the same evening, another first-year B.Tech student, Katravath Akhil (20), also from Telangana, passed away due to cardiac arrest. Akhil had been suffering from multiple health issues.
A three-member inquiry committee has been set up to investigate both deaths, and it will submit its report to the IIIT director within a week.

Chaitanya’s last chat with mother

Chaitanya’s mother, in a statement quoted by NDTV, said she panicked after seeing his message and immediately tried calling him, but his phone was switched off. She then contacted his friend, who went to check on him. The friend, after asking another student about Rahul’s whereabouts, abruptly disconnected the call. Ten minutes later, he called back, informing her that Chaitanya was being taken to the hospital.

Upon reaching the campus, Chaitanya’s mother was shocked to learn that he had not attended classes for six months. “The administration never informed us about this earlier,” she said.

Recalling her conversations with Chaitanya, she mentioned that they used to attend speech therapy sessions together to improve communication. “He would tell me if he ate something nice or shared details about his classes. We used to chat. On Thursday night, he had asked for ₹500, and I had sent him the money,” she said.

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