She Was Always Confident’: Friends and Family Struggle to Understand Why NIT Patna Student Took Her Own Life

Patna: For Ramakrishna Reddy, the sight of his daughter Pallavi’s lifeless body was a heart-wrenching culmination of a dream that once seemed so promising. Having sent his daughter nearly 1,800 kilometers away from their home in Andhra Pradesh to study at the prestigious National Institute of Technology (NIT) in Patna, Ramakrishna never imagined that his hopes would be shattered so tragically.

Pallavi Reddy, a 21-year-old second-year Electronics and Communication student, was found dead in her hostel room on Friday night. The circumstances surrounding her death have raised serious concerns among students and have left her family grappling with an overwhelming sense of loss and disbelief.

“She had no problems; everything was fine,” Ramakrishna said, sitting beside his daughter’s body, unable to reconcile the bright and ambitious young woman he knew with the person who left a heartbreaking suicide note behind. “I had dreamed of making my younger daughter an engineer, just like her elder sister. But now that dream is gone.”

Pallavi’s death has left the NIT Patna community in shock, and her friends and classmates are struggling to understand what drove her to take such a step. Satvika, Pallavi’s roommate, described her as a reserved yet driven student who rarely opened up about her personal struggles. “Pallavi was not someone who talked much; she was quiet and kept to herself. But she was always focused on her studies,” Satvika said.

On the day of her death, Satvika noticed that Pallavi seemed a little off. “She said she was having trouble concentrating but didn’t explain why,” she recalled. Pallavi had spent the morning reading the Bhagavad Gita, attended her classes as usual, and then took a nap. When her roommates went to the mess for dinner, Pallavi stayed back. By the time they returned, it was too late.

“I caught a glimpse of her suicide note,” Satvika said quietly, recalling Pallavi’s final words: ‘I was in depression due to my mental reasons. No one is responsible for my suicide.’ For Satvika and others who knew Pallavi, those words seemed entirely out of character. “She was always confident, always happy. She encouraged us and had even secured a 9.7 CGPA in her first year. It just doesn’t make sense.”

The students allege that Pallavi could have been saved if she had been taken to the hospital on time. Anger has grown not only over the circumstances of her death but also over the conditions at the NIT Patna Bihta campus, where 600 girls are housed with only one warden and an assistant warden. Many students feel the administration is indifferent to their needs. “The warden often scolds us when we bring up issues,” one student said. “She tells us to handle our problems ourselves and even questions our upbringing.”

The lack of security measures on campus, including the absence of CCTV cameras, has further intensified students’ frustration. In the wake of Pallavi’s death, the institute temporarily shut down Wi-Fi on both the Patna and Bihta campuses, adding to the sense of unrest among students who feel their concerns are being ignored.

Pallavi’s death note, written in Telugu, mentioned a Rs. 6 lakh loan, which police believe may have been a source of stress for her. However, the investigation is ongoing, and authorities are examining her phone records to uncover any clues that might explain her actions. “We’re looking at all angles,” said Rajkumar Pandey, the police officer in charge of the investigation. “We need to understand what led her to this point.”

Pallavi’s friends insist that financial stress alone could not have pushed her to such an extreme step. “She was a happy-go-lucky person, always cheerful,” one of her classmates said. “It’s impossible to believe she would end her life over just ₹6 lakhs.”

As Pallavi’s father and friends try to piece together the puzzle of her final days, they are left with more questions than answers. For Ramakrishna, the pain of losing his daughter is compounded by the mystery surrounding her death. “I just don’t understand,” he said, his voice breaking. “She never showed any signs of being unhappy.”

Pallavi’s story is a stark reminder of the unseen burdens that many students carry and the gaps in support systems meant to protect them. As her family takes her back to their home in Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh, they are left mourning not just a daughter, but a future that will never be.