First year student of MFA course found hanging in Hyderbad university hostel

A first-year student of MFA course at University of Hyderabad (UoH) allegedly committed suicide on Saturday, police said. Praveen Kumar allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself in his hostel room, Joint Commissioner of Police (Cyberabad West) M Stephen Ravindra told PTI.

"Reasons are not known...no suicide note was found," he said adding some students took him to hospital where he was declared brought dead. Police said Praveen hailed from Shadnagar town of Mahabubnagar district in Telangana and his parents have been informed about the incident. UoH Pro Vice-Chancellor Vipin Srivastava said Praveen had got admitted to Master of Fine Arts course around one and half months ago.

"The police is gathering more information... body has been shifted to a hospital," he said. Further probe is on. Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula was found hanging in the hostel room of the Central university on January 17 resulting in hunger strikes, demonstrations and unrest there for months together.

The 26-year-old was among the five research scholars who were suspended by Hyderabad Central University (HCU) in August last year and also one of the accused in the case of assault on an ABVP student leader. They were also kept out of the hostel. The suspension was revoked later.

The alleged suicide had triggered a huge political storm with Opposition parties launching a massive attack on the Union Government over the issue amid allegations that the extreme action was a result of discrimination against Dalit students after Bandaru Dattatreya had written a letter to the then Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani seeking action against their "anti-national acts".