It was a dream come true for 26-year-old Dr Saravanan Ganesan when he found out that he had secured admission at the prestigious All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi for the MD in General Medicine. He had given up his Pathology seat at AIIMS just months earlier to pursue his ambition in General Medicine.
But on July 10, ten days into the postgraduate course, the young doctor from Tirupur in Tamil Nadu was found dead in his apartment in South Delhi under mysterious circumstances. Delhi police suspect it to be a case of suicide after an injection, suspected to be potassium chloride was found in his room. Jitender, the Station House Officer at Hauz Khas told The News Minute that the police did not suspect any foul play in his death. “There was nothing suspicious found in his room. The reason for his suicide is yet to be established.” No suicide note was found.
Refusing to accept that Saravanan committed suicide, his friends have started a social media campaign “Justice for Saravanan” demanding a CBI probe into his death. They have also urged Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa to intervene and ensure a fair probe.
Dr Arvind Gandhi, who studied with Saravanan at the Madurai Medical College says, “He was on duty until 12:30am on Sunday. That’s the last time his colleagues at AIIMS saw him.” When he failed to turn up for duty at 8am the next morning, his seniors went to his residence to check on him. “His door was open and when they entered they found an IV line on his right hand,” says Arvind. Friends and classmates have raised questions over how Saravanan, who was right-handed could have injected himself with his left-hand.
Saravanan’s roommate Mohammed Jasim had been in his hometown of Papanasam in Tirunelveli when he heard about his death. The two medical students from Tamil Nadu had shared an apartment in Hauz Khas in South Delhi for a month. “He was fine. He wished me a Happy Ramzan. That was the last time I spoke to him,” says Jasim, who studies pathology at AIIMS.
Having known Saravanan for six years, Arvind says there was no reason for his friend to kill himself. “He was a brilliant guy. He had gotten into Pathology in December. But he gave up his seat and studied again. His ambition was MD – General Medicine,” he explains. While Arvind got into Safdarjung Medical College, his classmate got into the medical institute across the road, AIIMS.
“He was very happy and the admission was very unexpected. On the day of the counselling, he took us out to a Punjabi dhaba for dinner. He promised to take us out for a bigger treat when he got his first salary,” he recalls. But that day never came. On Tuesday, Saravanan’s father Ganesan, a tailor at Tirupur along with his brother-in-law received his body from AIIMS after a post-mortem was conducted.