Student 'commits suicide' in LUMHS boys' hostel

Deceased reportedly shot self in the chest in friend's room; incident follows 2019 suicides in same university

HYDERABAD:

A student allegedly committed suicide in the boys' hostel of the Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences (LUMHS), Jamshoro. The body of Abdullah Soomro, a fourth-year MBBS student enrolled at Bilawal Bhutto Medical College, was found in room 144 of the Ibn-e-Sina Boys Hostel on Sunday.

Soomro had been allotted room 35 but had gone to room 144, which was his friend Niaz's room. Residents of the hostel reported hearing loud music from the room before hearing a gunshot. Police, upon arrival, found the room locked from the inside. Once inside, police found a pistol that the deceased used to reportedly shoot himself in the chest at close range.

A letter will be sent to the deputy commissioner of Jamshoro to determine whether the pistol was licensed, and whether it was registered in the student's name. The body of the deceased was handed over to his brother Asadullah, a first-year MBBS student in Karachi, and was later shifted to their hometown of Jacobabad.

SSP Jamshoro, Zafar Siddique Changa, told the media that the statements of the hostel residents, staff, and faculty have been taken, while the forensic team has also collected samples and evidence from the room. The SSP stated that police have started investigations into aspects of probable suicide or murder.

It should be noted that on 17th January, 2019, 21-year-old Muhammad Atif Arain, a third-year MBBS student, was found shot dead in his room in the same boys' hostel. The young man, from Badin, had also reportedly shot himself in a reported suicide. The pistol found at the scene belonged to the deceased's father. Separately, on 9th October, 2019, a female student of the College of Pharmacy attempted suicide by slitting her wrist in the girls' hostel.

Serious questions are being raised about the entry of firearms into educational institutions and hostels.

Youth found dead of 'suicide' in mango orchard

The three-day-old body of 20-year-old Manu Bheel was recovered from a mango orchard in the jurisdiction of Sultanabad police station in Tando Allahyar. The body was shifted to the hospital and, after legal formalities, handed over to the deceased's family.

According to Manu's family, the young man had remained mentally distressed for some time and had been missing for the past three days, with attempts to find him having gone in vain. The family, along with police, suspect that Manu committed suicide.