Aug 13, 2008

India - IIMA prof's husband kills self on campus

AHMEDABAD: Shockwaves ran through the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A) campus on Tuesday evening, following the suicide of the husband of a faculty member, who is currently away in US.

Laxman Mohanty, 43, visiting professor at Institute of Petroleum Technology, Gandhinagar was found hanging at his residence on Tuesday evening. Police suspect that he may have died earlier. Neighbours reported to the police.

His wife, Neharika Vohra, who is away on an official trip to US, is a faculty of Organisational Behaviour in the institute. Mohanty was a visiting faculty in a management institute at Gandhinagar.

Police officials said, "The deceased has left behind a suicide note which says that nobody is to be blamed for his suicide and also that marital discord was not a reason for the extreme act."

"A complaint of accidental death has been registered at the Satellite police station. We are investigating into the causes behind his suicide," said BK Jha, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone 1).

Sources said that Mohanty was suffering from depression and the police believes that this could be the reason behind the suicide. "Mohanty dreamed of setting up a school in Orissa. This was not materializing, which had added to his depression," said police officials.

"His wife has been away for almost a month. Mohanty's body was found on Tuesday, hanging by a nylon rope from a ceiling fan. But, the exact time of death is still not known," said police officials.

According to police officials, Mohanty's friend Sajjan Singh who was supposed to come for dinner had called him repeatedly. But when the deceased did not reply, Singh informed Mohanty's neighbour. Mohanty and the neighbour employed the same househelp who provided the key to Mohanty's residence. Mohanty's body was discovered when the neighbours entered the home.

"The body has been sent for postmortem to ascertain the cause and time of death," said officials.

Sources from the institute said that Vohra has been intimated of the incident and she is likely to return on August 14. "Other family members of the deceased in Orissa have also been intimated and they are on their way," said the source.

Vohra has been with the institute for around 10 years. She is a visiting professor at the University of Manitoba and has taught at the Xavier's Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar. Currently, she is the Associate Editor of Indian Psychological Abstracts and Reviews and Book Review Editor of International Journal of Cross Cultural Management.

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