‘Want to tell our side of story’: Mother of Aditya Prabhu, PES University student who died by suicide, narrates ordeal

Asha wrote on Instagram, “I am Aditya Prabhu’s mother. He was a student (19 y/o) of PES college, RR road campus, CSE 1st student… The college announced to the media that Aditya was caught cheating and copying during an exam. He was arrested. He was advised… I want to tell the story from our side.”

Asha further recounted, “I got a call from Aditya at 11.45 am on 17th July. He told me that he had forgotten to put the phone back in his bag and the phone stayed in his trouser pocket. He remembered it in the middle of the exam and took it himself and moved it away from him either on the seat or on the floor (I don’t remember his exact words). The phone was in flight mode. The invigilator saw it and held it. He wrote the whole exam.”

He also told Aditya that they were teasing him, they told him that it is better to die than to do such things and asked me to come to the college. After some time, I got a call from his college teacher asking me to come. Later I learned from the students in the class that the observers saw the mobile phone at 11:26 in the morning and there were only 4 minutes left until the end of the exam. When I got there, there was no one in the office and I was told to wait. I waited for nearly an hour. I told Asha.

“I was called into the office. And they started looking for Aditya. They told Aditya to sit there. They asked a bit, everyone said he was sitting there. They told me he must be walking around with friends. I said it was impossible for him to go out with his friends when such serious charges were being made against him. I started asking them to look for him on the CCTV cameras and that he might be in danger if he wasn’t sitting there. They still said he was out with his friends. After some time, they started making calls. Then he growled. They called out. I followed them. We walked a lot and got to the other end of campus,” she wrote on Instagram.

She further wrote that upon seeing the ambulance and the presence of the police, she began screaming frantically when the management informed her that her son was not alive. I asked them to take him to the hospital and revive him. What I was told next is unbelievable… I was told I needed to get to know him first and sign a statement and then they would take him to the hospital and try to resuscitate him. Even though I was alone, they took me (2 or 3 of them holding me) to identify my son’s body… Once I agreed that it was Aditya, they gave me something to sign and told me that once signed, they would take him to the hospital. Time and time again I was pressured into signing,” Asha’s post reads.

She also claimed that her friend soon arrived and advised her not to sign anything until her family members arrived. The forensic team did not arrive and the dog squad was brought in only after her family members arrived and pressured them to conduct an investigation.

She also claimed that until 7:30pm, no one came and spoke to them. “At 7.30 the VC came and met us and said they were very sorry for what had happened…”

It also claimed that the authorities initially tried to pressure the police to remove the body from the campus and claimed that the deceased was not their student but an unknown person who entered the campus.

Speaking to indianexpress.com, PES University Chancellor Professor Jawahar Durswamy refuted some of Asha’s claims. Durswamy also said that if the police investigation finds loopholes on the part of the college management, the institution will take measures to address them.

He refuted the allegation that the mother and student spoke on the phone at 11.45pm since the phones were confiscated when a student was found to be engaging in malpractice.

The Foundation cooperates with the investigation in every way. We have standard operating procedures that are followed when malpractices are identified. In our college, each student is assigned a tutor. At such times, the parent is called by the mentor and informed of the incident. A detailed report is provided and a student handbook is presented. However, this incident is the first time in 50 years for the institution. “Once the students come in after the break, we will assess them, hold a condolence meeting and pass on the SOPs,” said Doreswamy.

According to the advisor, if malpractice is committed during the exam, the student is not allowed to write the exam and is given an ‘F’ grade only for that subject. “The student does not lose a semester or a year but rather writes the paper along with the third semester exam. If a mobile phone is used, the controller also seizes the device used for misbehavior,” Durswamy explained.

“The boy, by the way, has an average score of 8.55 which is very good. To expect a boy with this ability to succumb to the kind of pressure like this is surprising to us. We want the investigation to dig deeper into the incident and find out what it was like,” Durswamy said.

Regarding asking Asha to make her sign a statement. Doreswamy said, “I am not aware of this at all. The police had come to the scene of the accident. They told us to stay away from the scene of the accident.” The Malpractice Committee will also investigate the matter internally and check if the entire chain of command has been followed and identify and address any deficiencies that will be identified.

Bengaluru Police registered an FIR against the observers, PES University management and staff and detained them under IPC Section 306 (If any person commits suicide, any person who abets the commission of such suicide shall be liable to imprisonment).