Navy Cadet Who Died At Kerala Academy Accuses Seniors Of Harassment In Suicide Note: Police

Kerala: A 26-year-old navy cadet who died of a cardiac arrest on Thursday at the Indian Naval Academy (INA) in Kerala has blamed his seniors of alleged harassment in a suicide note found by the police. A case of abetment to suicide has been registered against the two senior cadets named, according to officials at the Payyanur police station.

The Indian Naval Academy had said that Gudeppa Sooraj was reported for cheating hours before he was found unconscious by an instructor on Wednesday at the INA in Ezhimala. He was taken to the navy hospital and given resuscitation, but he could not be revived. He later died of two cardiac arrests at a government medical college.

According to his family, the note said he was forced to cheat in the exam as his seniors never allowed him to study.

The Indian Naval Academy, soon after the cadet's death had told NDTV, "On Wednesday, cadet Sooraj was caught cheating in his end of term exam. This malpractice was reported to an internal committee in the afternoon itself. But unfortunately, by 5.30 pm we found the cadet in the unconscious state."

Mr Sooraj, who was from Malappuram, had joined the navy as a sailor at 18 and cleared his exams for officers' training. However, at the academy, he was reportedly dismissed for cheating in 2015, after which he took the navy to court, his family said. He was reinstated earlier this year on the court's order.

"Whenever he called home after his reinstatement in the academy, he told us that he was being troubled mentally," his brother Guddeppa Sanoj told NDTV.

The academy had called the death as an 'accidental death'. The Southern Naval Academy has called for an inquiry.