Bhubaneswar Police Plan Psychological Autopsy On NISER Scholar Who ‘Jumped To Her Death’

Bhubaneswar: A girl student of National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER), Bhubaneswar, died after allegedly jumping off the sixth floor of her hostel building on the campus on Monday.

The deceased has been identified as Pooja Jethwani of Chhattisgarh. She was pursuing PhD in Physic at the institute and was a fifth-year student. Police have seized a suicide note and a diary from her room.

The 27-year-old scholar was reportedly under severe mental duress. “She was suffering from depression and prima facie, it appears to be a case of suicide,” DCP Uma Shankar Dash said.

The conflict in career decisions had left her depressed. She was in a dilemma between choosing the path of spirituality and science and had mentioned it in her suicide note, a TOI report said, quoting police sources.

Pooja had visited home about six months ago and consulted a psychiatrist there.

The report further added that a noted psychologist will be roped in to conduct a psychological autopsy of her death.

The body, which was found lying in a pool of blood, was sent to AIIMS Bhubaneswar for postmortem.

Psychological autopsy involves collecting all available information on the deceased via structured interviews of family members, relatives or friends as well as attending healthcare personnel.