Chennai engineering student loses money in online trading, kills self

CHENNAI: Allegedly dejected over losing money, which he borrowed from his classmates, in online share trade, a student of an engineering college near Chennai died by suicide inside his hostel.

Ramaiah Bhukala (21) from Kadapa in Andhra Pradesh was a third-year EEE student at a private engineering college in Thandalam near Sriperumbudur in Kancheepuram district. He hails from Kadapa, Andhra Pradesh. He was a resident of the engineering college hostel, staying in a room with three other students.

According to the police, Ramaiah was in the room with others till midnight on Thursday. But early on Friday morning, his roommates found that he was missing.

The room next to theirs was not occupied empty due to maintenance work. However, when the students checked, it was locked from inside, which made them suspicious. When their repeated knocks did not elicit any response from inside, they became worried and broke open the door. As they feared, they found Ramaiah’s body inside.

The hostel authorities immediately alerted the police, and a team from Sriperumbudur police retrieved Ramaiah’s body and sent it to the Sriperumbudur Government Hospital for post-mortem examination.

The police registered a case and began investigating the case. During their inquiry, the police found that Ramaiah was involved in online share trade using a mobile phone app. Every now and then, he used to borrow money from his roommates and repay it promptly.

Most recently, he took Rs 3 lakh from his friends. However, luck was not on his side and he reportedly lost Rs 7 lakh in all in just one night. This left him dejected and worried about paying the money back to his friends.

Wracked by disappointment and guilt, Ramaiah went to the unoccupied room next door, locked the door and killed himself when his roommates were sleeping, said the police, adding that they are investigating the matter further.