IIT graduate jumps off to death from Gurugram flat before exam

GURUGRAM: A 26-year-old IIT graduate allegedly jumped to death from the 23rd floor of DLF Magnolias in Sector 42 in the early hours of Monday. Police said Ankit Wadhwa was expected to appear for GMAT at a Delhi centre later in the day and what prompted him to take the extreme step was not immediately clear.No suicide note was found.

A security guard heard a loud thud around 2am and saw Ankit on the ground. He immediately called the police helpline and informed his uncle Chunni Lal Wadhwa, who lives in the flat No. 523A on the 23rd floor of the tower-5.

The guard claimed that Ankit jumped off the walkway linking the tower-4 and the tower-5. A police team reached the spot and rushed him to a nearby private hospital, where doctors declared him brought dead.

According to the uncle, Ankit had come to Gurgaon on Saturday for his GMAT on Monday . "He had been busy with preparations since he had come. He ate dinner with us around 10.30pm on Sunday and went to sleep in his room. It was past 2 am when we were woken up by the security guard. Later, we found him lying in a pool of blood on the ground," said Chunni Lal, a retired private sector professional.

Ankit, originally from Sri Ganganagar in Rajasthan, had completed his integrated MSc in Economics from IITKanpur in 2015 and started working as an analyst at JP Morgan Chase in Mumbai.However, he quit the job in March and shifted to Ganganagar, where his family lived.His father works in the insurance sector and his brother is doing engineering from Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology-Patiala in Punjab.

One of Ankit's childhood friends told TOI that he remembered him as a dedicated student.

"Ankit wanted to go abroad for doing his PhD. I remember him very fondly from our schooldays. He and I were the shortest people in the school and thus, had become friends," he added.

Inspector Gaurav Phogat, SHO, Sushant Lok police station, said that Ankit had reportedly been depressed for the past few months and was undergoing therapy for the same. "Prime facie it appears that he had been depressed but the exact reason behind it is not clear," he added.

On his LinkedIn profile, Ankit had written a note, reflecting on the importance of a second chance in life. He had also quoted a motivational writer, who likens "extreme perfectionism" to "selfhatred in disguise".

"Life also gives us second chances. If it hadn't, we would be under immense pressure of getting things right in the first attempt and would be leaving a lot of money on the table by not taking necessary risks. We would be leading the life of a perfectionist," he had written on July 10.

But, it is not clear in which context the post was written.

His social media activities show he was a marathon runner and cricket enthusiast, apart from a student of economics.

"We have seized his mobile phone and our technical team is trying to decode its security lock to find out if he had spoken to anyone before his death," SHO Phogat added.

Police have filed a report under Section 174 of the CrPC and handover over the body to his family members after the post-mortem, which read "death due to multiple injuries".