Naval cadet’s suicide note alleges harassment

Two days after the death of Gudeppa Sooraj, a 26-year-old cadet from the INA in Kannur district of Kerala, the police on Saturday recovered a suicide note alleging harassment by two senior cadets.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A navy cadet accused his trainers and superiors of mentally and physically harassing him in a note before he purportedly jumped off a building at the Ezhimala Naval Academy on Wednesday.

G Sooraj, 26, a native of Tirur in Malappuram district, died of his injuries on Thursday. On Saturday, police said they recovered a suicide note.

“Four trainers/officers named in the note will be booked for abetting suicide,” a senior police officer of north Kerala said, adding that they had informed the academy authorities of the note.

Sooraj’s family dismissed the suicide theory and accused naval authorities of withholding information about his death. “A born fighter, my brother will not commit suicide,” his sibling said.

The Indian Naval Academy said in a statement that Sooraj was “found unconscious and unresponsive” on the floor of the academy wing by a duty sailor at 5.50pm on Wednesday.

He was taken to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the naval medical unit and shifted to the Pariyaram Medical College Hospital where he developed a cardiac arrest the next day, the press release said.

The 26-year-old had joined the navy as a sailor in 2010. He appeared for the officers’ test in 2013 and joined the academy in Ezhimala near Kannur.

His relatives said many officers did not like this and routinely harassed him.

They pulled him up on several occasions citing indiscipline. In 2015, he was terminated from the INA but the Armed Forces Tribunal reinstated him. He re-joined the academy as an officer cadet in January this year.

SOORAJ’S FAMILY DISMISSED THE SUICIDE THEORY AND ACCUSED NAVAL AUTHORITIES OF WITHHOLDING INFO ABOUT HIS DEATH