DCET principal falls to his death from college building

Everyone but the watchman says it was suicide.

KARACHI:

The principal of Dawood College of Engineering and Technology (DCET) died on Monday under mysterious circumstances on campus.

Police say Professor Engineer Salman Baloch was under a lot of mental stress and that he committed suicide by jumping off the third floor of the college building.

The incident occurred around 2:30 pm. Baloch’s body was taken to a private hospital where doctors pronounced him dead. He was then moved to Civil Hospital, Karachi for an autopsy. Doctors have reserved the postmortem report. His body was handed over to the family.

Fifty-eight-year-old Baloch sustained multiple fractures and initially, doctors thought the fractures were the cause of death. “Baloch’s legs and chest bones were broken,” medico-legal officer (MLO) Qarar Abbasi told The Express Tribune. “He also sustained head injuries.” He said that it appeared that the deceased was not murdered. DNA samples were sent for a chemical examination. When the reports come, they would be able to figure out if he was poisoned or not. Baloch had weak eyesight and was also suffering from diabetes.

“Circumstance and reports gathered from his family and college suggest that he committed suicide,” inquiry office ASI Maqsood Bhutto said. “He had so many problems. His age, office burdens, diabetic disorder, weak eyesight and blood pressure combined to dishearten him and he finally killed himself.”

His wife was also quoted by the police as saying that her husband was “mentally unfit” and “unhappy” during the last few days.

Mourning

The college administration has suspended educational activities for two days (March 29 and 30) to mourn the principal’s death. He was appointed in February this year. Since then, he has already tried to resign twice but his application was not approved.

“He did not want to continue working here any more,” said the administration. “Despite this, he was told to stay.”

The principal attended two meetings on Monday. First he met the Student Action Committee over the issue of delaying college cards to students. The meeting was attended by Student Affairs Director Dr Baz Mohammad, Account Officer Imdad Ali, former principal Professor Naseem and Registrar Bashir.

After this, a meeting was held with the admissions committee. This was attended by Admissions Committee Chairman Javed Mehar, Office Assistant Aslam and a committee member, Rashid Ali.

According to the administration, after the second meeting ended, Baloch went to the third floor and apparently jumped off. He slipped out from between the gaps in the wall (the wall is designed with spaces in between just big enough for a man to get through). “He went suddenly, without saying anything to anyone.”

A huge crowd gathered as news spread that someone had fallen down from the third floor. “Everyone was shocked and was shouting for an ambulance,” narrated Javed, the college watchman.

“I saw him [Baloch] lying on the ground when I came close to the crowd,” he said.

Unlike everyone else, however, Javed does not believe Baloch killed himself. “In my opinion, he was fine and that is why he was appointed as principal of the college.”

“It’s a very important post. Nobody would appoint a psycho patient to this post,” he added.

Witnesses hypothesised whether the principal was wearing his glasses and had perhaps fallen accidentally. However, Bhutto said Baloch was wearing his glasses when the incident took place. The police found his spectacles from the spot.

Professor Baloch had returned to office after a leave of five days.

The inquiry officer said that the deceased had no dispute with anyone, especially over the seat of the principal. “Salman Baloch had no dispute with anyone over the seat but there was a dispute between Professor Abdul Razzak Memon and Professor Rafiq Jatayal,” the officer said. “The dispute was resolved because Memon was retired and Rafiq Jatayal was transferred to Jamshoro.”

Bhutto said, however, that Baloch was forced to continue working as the principal even though he did not wish to anymore. “The college should not have appointed him at this post.”

Baloch has two daughters. He lived in Mohammad Ali Society with his wife, who is a doctor and who used to work at the police hospital. His family did not wish to talk to media directly.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 29^th, 2011.