Santacruz MBA student had shared suicide plans with online friend: cops

“Though there was no suicide note at his house,we decided to check his mobile phone records and found that he had been having a conversation through text messaging to an international number hours before his death. There were around 10-12 text messages to and from that number which belongs to a female whose identity cannot be revealed at this juncture,” said Senior Police Inspector Madhukar Chaudhari from the Santacruz police station. As per the police,in the last text message sent to that number,Viven apparently said that he is ‘giving up his life’.

Chaudhari said that on questioning Viven’s parents about his friends,they told the police that Viven would often spend most of his time inside his room on the internet,without venturing out for hours. “We believe that the deceased might have struck a friendship with someone over the internet while chatting and the international number to which the various text messages were sent might belong to that person,” said Chaudhari.

Viven was an MBA student with the Indian Institute of Planning and Management (IIPM) in Bandra. His father,Captain Krishna Bhandarkar,works with a shipping company,while his elder sister,Riya,is a housewife.