Student dies at IIT Ropar months before graduation; body flown to Hyderabad in cargo jet

Student dies at IIT Ropar months before graduation; body flown to Hyderabad in cargo jet

About 200 km from Hyderabad, a family in Nandyal district, Andhra Pradesh, lost their only son, just three months before he was set to graduate with a B. Tech degree from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Ropar in Punjab.

Arun Marymesi, 23, a final-year Metallurgical and Materials Engineering student, passed away at a hospital (Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) in Chandigarh on March 22, a week after consuming poison in his hostel room. In his final moments, he regretted his decision and expressed a desire to live. But it was too late.

On March 25, Arun’s body was flown from Chandigarh to Hyderabad in a cargo flight. From there, his family took a taxi to their home in Ramapuram village in Nandyal district.

A day after performing his final rites, Arun’s father, Marymesi Sudhakar, broke down during a telephonic conversation with The Hindu. His cousin, Shiva, said in a sombre tone, “We don’t want this to happen to anyone’s child... the government should address this. Arun was worried about his low GATE score and his four backlogs, but we never imagined he would take such a drastic step.”

Shiva said the family learned of the incident only on March 16 through Arun’s friend and immediately flew to Chandigarh.

“We don’t know what he went through alone, but he was at his best when he was with us,” recalled Prashanth, Arun’s closest friend and classmate. “Just two days earlier, Arun was out playing cricket, as if nothing was wrong.”

On Holi, while most of his friends had gone on weekend trips, he stayed back in the hostel. “I was in Delhi when I got a call. He asked me where I was. It felt like a casual conversation. I had no idea he had already consumed poison,” he said.