Death of young executive leaves kin shell-shocked

The body of the project associate with IIT Madras was found near a hockey stadium on the campus

On Thursday afternoon when they had a video chat with their young son in Chennai, Reghu R. and Sheeba Reghu never thought that it was the last time they would be seeing him alive.

So, when the devastating news of the death of their elder son Unnikishnan Nair, a project associate with IIT Madras, reached them at their apartment at Kakkanad just hours later in the night, they were shell-shocked. His body was found near a hockey stadium on the campus. “It was a rather desolate place,” said a cousin who had rushed to Chennai following the tragedy.

The emotional trauma worsened when the working parents were told that it was a suspected case of suicide. A note reportedly running into 11 pages has emerged since then, and it painted the image of a youngster under immense stress.

“His parents were about to visit him this weekend, and they had talked about it during the video call on Thursday. They had no clue that he was under so much stress to have thought of taking the extreme step,” said the cousin of the deceased. People who had known the victim remembered him as a confident youngster who could never have taken the extreme step. And, they still cannot believe that he has chosen to end his life though the note painted a different story.

A mechanical engineering graduate from the Cochin University of Science and Technology (Cusat), Unnikrishnan had joined IIT Madras earlier this year. He had last visited home in March.

For Mr. Reghu, an alumnus of IIT Madras, the return to his alma mater could not have been more tragic. He serves as a senior scientist at the Indian Space Research Organisation and his wife Ms. Sheeba is employed with an IT company. Their younger son is now in Standard 10.

The body was taken to their ancestral home at Ettumanoor.

Helpline number – 0484-2540530

Source: Read Full Article