DECEMBER 23: The usually bustling campus of the D Y Patil medical college at Nerul was rocked by the suicide of a first year MBBS student on Monday.

Twenty-two-year-old Risat Mohd Abdulla reportedly consumed insecticide in a friend's room on the fifth floor of the ladies' hostel and died before she could be administered medical aid.

According to Dr Mukund Ketkar, dean of the medical faculty at the college, Risat had not attended college for the past three years. ``Suddenly, on Sunday evening, she appeared in the campus and went to the hostel,'' he added. Four cases of suicides have been reported in the city in over two weeks.

Risat reportedly told the hostel warden, Premila Chaubal, that she was coming from Srinagar by flight. She did not specify the exact details of where she had been during the three years. ``She hugged me and told me that she needed a room in the hostel now that she had come back,'' said the despondent warden. After deciding to put up in a friend's room for the night, Risat and her hostel-mates spent the rest of the night in revelry.

``We did not have any inkling that she was depressed,'' claimed one of her friends. The next day, in the afternoon, Risat left her friend who was asleep, and went into another batchmate's room blabbering incoherently. Soon she collapsed on the floor and died on the way to Harish hospital nearby.

Acquaintances claim that they did not know whether the cheerful girl had any problems in her personal life. ``In fact Risat was called Kashmir Ki Kali for her beauty and her cheerful nature,'' claimed another inmate of the hostel. ``Ab hamari Kashmir ki kali murjha gayi hai,'' said a disconsolate friend.

Sources claimed that Risat was not good at studies and had failed in her attempt at clearing the first year examinations three years ago. Soon after, she left the college without notice. College authorities claimed that they had sent numerous telegrams to her parents who reside in Anant Nag district in Jammu and Kashmir. But, curiously, they did not receive any reply to their queries from them. Another telegram has been sent to her parents informing them of their daughter's death.

Meanwhile, Risat's body is being kept under police custody at the Thane Civil Hospital and the post-mortem report is awaited.

The Nerul police have still not attributed any reason for the suicide, though they have ruled out any foul play in the incident. They recovered Rs 40,000 in cash along with some letters in Urdu from her baggage. The presence of a large number of pharmaceutical pills in her suitcase has aroused suspicion that Risat may have died due to over-consumption of these pills.

Meanwhile, a two-minute silence was observed during the ongoing Dyps-o-mania festival at the D Y Patil dental college, as a mark of respect to Risat.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.