Ahmedabad: A 21-year-old second-year MBBS student of Smt NHL Municipal Medical College died by suicide in her hostel room on Friday night, casting a pall of grief across the campus in the Ellisbridge area. The student, Sushila Vasava, used her dupatta to hang herself from the ceiling fan. She was alone in the room when the incident occurred, as her roommate had stepped out.
Ellisbridge police, who are investigating the case, said no suicide note was recovered from the room.
Hailing from Bayad, Vasava had been staying in Room 424 of the girls’ hostel. College authorities confirmed she was admitted under the govt quota (freeship card) in the 2023–24 academic year.
“Her body was discovered late on Friday when her roommate returned and found the door locked from inside. She informed the hostel staff who called the police control room. They also informed Vasava’s relatives about the tragedy over the phone. The door was forced open, and the student’s body was found hanging from the ceiling,” said inspector K M Bhuva of Ellisbridge police station.
He added, “She had become unusually quiet over the past few days and avoided interaction with her batchmates. The exact reason behind her drastic step is unclear at this stage.”
The institution confirmed that Vasava had initially failed her first-year MBBS exam but cleared it later. She had recently appeared for the second-year internal exams and was awaiting the results.
Following the preliminary probe and postmortem, her body was handed over to the family. Silence loomed over the hostel on Saturday, with friends and classmates reeling in disbelief. Some remembered her as a soft-spoken student who kept to herself but never appeared visibly distressed.
College authorities, in a formal statement, said that Vasava had been assigned a mentor from the teaching staff according to the National Medical Commission (NMC) norms under the mentor-mentee programme. They said that Vasava had met her mentor in Dec and Feb. “No issues or concerns were recorded during either interaction,” the college noted.
The authorities expressed condolences to the grieving family and said counselling support would be extended to hostel students.