In a tragic incident, a 20-year-old MBBS student from AIIMS Bhopal, Utkarsh Mahadev Shingne, originally from Bhagyanagar in the Beed district of Maharashtra, died by suicide on the Armed Forces Medical College (AFMC) campus in Wanowrie, Pune.
Utkarsh had come to Pune on May 8 to attend an intercollegiate sporting competition at AFMC. Around early morning hours on May 12, he is said to have stabbed himself with a knife within the hostel toilet. Hostellers found him and informed the police. Police arrived to find Utkarsh in a pool of blood. He had passed away by the time the police reached, and medical help was immediately administered to him.
Initial inquiries indicated that Utkarsh was going through stress-related treatment for at least a year. Prior to committing this extreme act, he is said to have sent a suicide note to his parents on social media and published it on his WhatsApp status. The note read:
I, Utkarsh Shingne, am a student at AIIMS Bhopal. Due to academic stress and depression, I am taking my own life. I request the education minister to remove Mughal, French, and Russian history from the curriculum and instead include biographies of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and Maharana Pratap.Utkarsh Shingne's Suicide Note
Upon receiving an alert, officers from Wanowrie Police Station reached the scene and found the student lying in a pool of blood. Though he was rushed for medical attention, he was declared dead. The police recovered a suicide note on his phone, which had also been shared as a WhatsApp status shortly before the act.
Police reports indicate that the knife used in the incident had been purchased online. Investigators have confirmed that Shingne had been undergoing treatment for mental health concerns for the past year. Senior officials, including Deputy Commissioner Dr. Rajkumar Shinde, Assistant Commissioner Dhyankumar Godse, and Senior Inspector Satyajit Adamane, visited the scene as part of the investigation.
A case of accidental death has been registered. Further forensic analysis and inquiry are underway.
(Input from various sources)
(Rehash/Sakshi Thakar/MSM)