RML junior doctor found dead at his residence

A junior resident doctor of Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) hospital today allegedly committed suicide at his residence in central Delhi's Old Rajender Nagar area with the police saying he appeared to be depressed.

Siddarth Shankar Mahapatra, a first-year post graduate student in the department of Anaesthesiology at the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) in RML hospital, was a resident of Odisha.

Police claimed to have found no suicide note at the spot but said that they have found a written "note" which indicated that he was suffering from depression.

"It exactly cannot be called a suicide note. Prima facie, it seems that he was depressed," a senior police official said of the purported note.
 

In the note he said life is a "delusion" and he feels "like disappearing from this planet".

"I am unable to satisfy my hunger though I eat too much. I am unable to satisfy my thirst though I drink too much. I couldn't feel the heart, smell the fragrance. The energy inside my body is being denied (sic)," the note read.

He also expressed a desire to live a life of freedom and mentioned about "happiness and pleasure missing from his life".

"All I want is to live like a bird. Flying independently throughout the world exploring the beauty of nature. The sense of pleasure, happiness is what is lost from my life. I want to sleep in the lap of mother nature but it seems all disappearing," the note read.

According to a few of his colleagues, Mahapatra, apparently, was under work stress at the hospital.

The police said that they are yet to ascertain whether he took the extreme step due to personal or professional reasons.

There were syringes and medicine bottles found on his bed, they said.

A colleague said that Mahapatra lived along with two roommates, who are doctors of the same hospital.

"While one of the roommates had gone to Jharkhand, the other one was on night duty. He returned home from duty in the morning and found Mahapatra hanging from the fan and alerted the police," the colleague said.

Police said they were alerted about the incident at 8:38 am.

"On reaching the spot we found the doctor hanging from the fan hook in the ceiling. It is suspected that he had committed suicide," a senior police official said.

The spot was also inspected by a team from the crime branch. His family has been informed, the police said.

The RML authorities expressed grief over his death and said Mahapatra was a good student.

"He used to be a little quiet and was an introvert. But he was a good and obedient student. He recently participated in a protocol thesis presentation on September 12 which went off really well. We are not aware of any work stress. Even the faculty is shocked to hear of his suicide," Smriti Tiwari, spokesperson at RML, said.