DU professor's death: Friends say deceased had started isolating himself

DU professor Alan Stanley, who allegedly committed suicide, had started isolating himself, apparently after "malicious" news reports were published against him and his mother, his friends said on Monday.

The decapitated body of Stanley (27), who was an ad-hoc professor in Delhi University's (DU) St Stephen's College, was found on the railway tracks at Sarai Rohilla here on Saturday and his mother Lissy was found hanging from a ceiling fan, with her mouth stuffed with a piece of cloth, in their Pitampura flat.

Rajiv Pereira, a close friend of Stanley, said he was shocked to hear about the deaths through common friends and recalled that he used to frequently speak to the professor and after their last conversation, he thought things were finally getting better.

 

"I last spoke to him on October 6. It was a good conversation. We spoke for over 30 minutes. I enquired about aunty. We spoke about our fields of specialisation and from our talks, I got a good feeling that finally things were getting better," Pereira, who is pursuing his PhD in physics from a Thiruvananthapuram institute, said.

However, after the news reports appeared on October 15, Stanley stopped receiving his calls and neither did he respond to his messages.

The news reports published on October 15 in the regional media in Kerala apparently portrayed Stanley's mother in bad light, his friends said.

"A friend, who was with Stanley when I called him, told me later that he did not attend the call thinking that I must have read those reports and called him for the same," Pereira told PTI over phone.

He said he knew Stanley for nearly nine years and was also aware that the DU professor was very conscious about his image.

"He would get upset even over small issues. He did not like opening up about his personal matters to anyone," Pereira said.

Many of Stanley's friends have come to Delhi from Kerala and Hyderabad to attend his funeral on Tuesday.

Another close friend of the professor said ever since his father passed away, they were facing a series of problems, but the mother-son duo stayed strong.

"He shared a unique relationship with all his friends. He called me up recently to wish me for my exam and cheered me up, saying I would definitely clear it. He did share with us his family issues, but he was a little secretive about the case registered against them in Kerala. But he used to discuss it with our friends in Delhi," he said, requesting anonymity.

According to another friend of Stanley, who also requested anonymity, "He had faced a lot of hardship. He lost his father when he was in the final year of college. Later, he ensured that his mother remarry, despite opposition from his elder brother, who drifted away from them.