A 20-year-old BTech student died after allegedly jumping from the sixth-floor corridor of her university hostel in Nagadevanahalli, in Bengaluru’s Doddaballapura taluk, on Thursday night, prompting a police investigation and a complaint from her family alleging safety lapses on the campus.
Varshini V, a native of Andhra Pradesh, was pursuing her third year of computer science and engineering at GITAM University and was staying in the hostel on the university campus. Police said the incident occurred at around 8.30pm and that she died at the spot.
A senior police officer told the Times of India that investigators had examined CCTV footage and found it showed Varshini jumping from the corridor. “There is no foul play. We checked CCTV cameras and found the footage showing her jumping. We are checking her mobile phone too,” the officer said.
Police said no death note had been found. Investigators are also gathering information about reports that Varshini may have been experiencing depression. The police have not disclosed any further findings from the examination of her mobile phone.
Varshini’s family members, who reached the hostel on Friday, filed a complaint against the university management. They alleged that the institution had not taken adequate measures to prevent students from jumping or falling from the corridor. The family specifically alleged that the absence of iron grills along the corridor made it possible for Varshini to jump from the sixth floor.
A case has been registered at Doddaballapura Rural police station under Section 106 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, relating to causing death by negligence. The complaint places the design and maintenance of hostel corridors under scrutiny, although the allegations will have to be examined as part of the police investigation.
The incident highlights the safety responsibilities that universities and hostel operators face in buildings used by young residents, including the need to assess open corridors, guardrails and other fall-prevention measures. In this case, the police investigation and the family’s complaint will determine whether any specific safety failure contributed to the death.
Police are continuing to examine CCTV footage, the student’s mobile phone and other information related to the circumstances of the incident. The case will proceed on the basis of the investigation into the family’s allegations and the evidence collected by the Doddaballapura Rural police.
