Violence erupted at Sathyabama University in Chennai on Wednesday night after a first-year student, who was allegedly caught cheating during an examination, committed suicide, The Times of India reported.
Subsequently, university officials have shut the campus down and asked students to leave the hostel, NDTV reported. “The management has declared a holiday for a month. The situation is under control,” the channel’s website quoted unidentified police officials as saying.
Videos that went viral on social media show the students torching furniture and mattresses at the college and hostel. Fire fighters brought the blaze under control, and a police team is conducting investigations, but no one has been arrested yet.
Police identified the first year student as 18-year-old Duvvuru Monica Reddy of Andhra Pradesh. She was reportedly caught copying during a chemistry examination. “The invigilator informed other officials and she was asked to leave the hall,” a police officer was quoted as saying. Some reports alleged that Reddy committed suicide after the professor “humiliated her”.
Reddy reportedly went back to her hostel after this and sent her twin Rakesh Reddy, who was also writing an examination, a text message. When he checked on her after the exam, she was found hanging from her hostel room. After the students rushed her to a hospital, she was declared dead, the report said.
The post-mortem will be conducted on Thursday, NDTV reported.
A university official told the English daily that the university usually debars the students for one examination and informs the family after such incidents.
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