In a dramatic post that sent social media shockwaves, a student livestreamed his pre-suicide message on Facebook before jumping to his death off the 19th floor of a hotel in Mumbai.
Arjun Bhardwaj, a 23-year-old student, was found lifeless on the ground floor of the Hotel Taj Lands End in Bandra at around 6.30pm on Monday, Indian media reported.
The police said Bhardwaj left a suicide note, in which he said he was depressed. The dramatic Facebook video had gone viral.
Police told the Hindustan Times that Bharadwaj posted about suicide on his Facebook page, and his father visited him in Mumbai four days ago after his friends alerted his father about the posts.
Bharadwaj, from Bengaluru, was student at Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies. He lived alone in his Andheri flat in Mumbai before his retired father came to spend time with him, said police.
The paper quoted police as saying that Bharadwaj could not clear his BCom final year and was allegedly under the influence of alcohol at the time of his death.
The report added that Bharadwaj was under pressure to complete his studies and get a job to support their family of four. He has a younger brother who is studying in Class 10.
Bhardwaj was reportedly a third-year Bachelors of Commerce BCom student who had checked into the hotel at 3.30 am Monday, said police.
A hotel security official said Bhardwaj didn’t create any problems, but that the youth frequently ordered food.
“So, we were unaware of what was going on inside,” The Indian Express quoted the official.
In the Facebook Live video, he is heard saying it’s a “tutorial about how to (commit) suicide”, and seen consuming alcohol and smoking cigarettes.
The report said the hotel security was alerted by a back-office executive after he saw the Facebook video in which the hotel was tagged.
Moments later, security guards heard a loud "thud" and rushed to find his body on the ground.
The Mumbai Police had requested the media not to run the video.
