In a shocking incident, a 24-year-old student committed suicide on Monday evening by jumping off his 19th-floor room at the Taj Land’s End hotel in Mumbai. Minutes before taking his life, the student had streamed a Facebook Live video which went viral on social media.
Before jumping off, Arjun Bhardwaj, whose family lives in Bengaluru, posted a “suicide tutorial” on Facebook. “Step 1, write notes to people…step 2, get drunk, Step 3…enjoy the view, Step 4…have bacon pasta,” he says in the short video. He is wearing a bathrobe and can be seen smoking and drinking from a bottle of wine. “See you guys on the other side,” Bhardwaj says before the video ends, according to NDTV.
The incident took place around 6:30 pm at the Bandra (West) Taj Land’s End hotel. Bandra police told The Indian Express that the victim Arjun Bhardwaj, checked into the hotel at 3:30 am on Monday.
The police told NDTV that in one of the notes found scattered in the suite, he wrote: “I’m a drug addict…I don’t want to live anymore and hence committing suicide.” Bhardwaj had allegedly been depressed for some time and had come prepared for the suicide, NDTV has reported.
The victim deceased belonged to Bengaluru and had travelled to Mumbai for higher studies. A security official told The Indian Express that they were unaware of the student’s condition as he didn’t create any problem.
According to an NDTV report, the student used a chair to break open the window. Police told NDTV that retrieving the body took an hour as Bhardwaj had fallen on an 11th-floor terrace of the hotel. The body has now been sent for a post-mortem. Police has said that Bhardwaj’s father had been worried about his son and had met him a few days ago.
Mumbai Police have requested the media to not air the video. “It is disturbing and can have a huge impact on young minds,” Joint Commissioner of Police Deven Bharti said. Mumbai Police also tweeted about the incident asking youngsters to reach out to them. “Deeply bereaved with suicide of a young boy in the city. We urge the youngsters to reach out to us #WeAreListening,” the tweet read.