Pramod Gupta: Suicide or foul play?

Pramod Gupta would have turned 26 on June 4. Now, his shradh ceremony will be performed on his birthday.

The first-year MBA student of ICFAI Business School in Bangalore was found hanging from the ceiling of his hostel room on May 21.

“It is so tragic… I will be performing the shradh of my son on June 4,” said Shib Sahay Gupta, lamenting the death of “the brightest” of his five sons.

“Police told me he had committed suicide. But why would he commit suicide?” wondered Gupta, his voice choked with tears.

Pramod, son of a motor parts dealer, gained admission to the Bangalore B-school last month after clearing the three-stage selection process.

The proud father sold off a plot of land and borrowed Rs 5.95 lakh from a public sector bank to finance his son’s education.

The two-year MBA programme, including hostel charges and other fees, would have cost the Guptas Rs 7.95 lakh, out of which Rs 2 lakh was paid at the time of admission.

But Shib Sahay Gupta’s dream of his ICFAI-returned son taking charge of the family business was shattered when his phone rang on Monday. “I took a flight to Bangalore and rushed to the hospital… Police told me that he had killed himself,” said Gupta.

Pramod had called his father on Sunday night and spoken to him for around 30 minutes. As he was feeling homesick, they discussed the possibility of him seeking a transfer to the Calcutta centre of the institute. “He told me he would apply to the college authorities the next day,” said Gupta.

The 55-year-old man refused to believe the police version putting Pramod’s death down as suicide. “His cellphone and the three ATM cards were missing from his room… There is something wrong.”

“We can look into the matter, but there has to be a formal complaint,” Alok Kumar, deputy commissioner, Bangalore City (south), told Metro.

“I will lodge a complaint,” promised Gupta.