Student's Decomposing Body Found Inside Film School Hostel Room Two Days After He Hanged Himself

The suicide death of a cinematography student at the Film Television Institute of India (FTII), has triggered massive outrage among the victim’s classmates. The authorities are being accused of failing to monitor him even after knowing that he was on medication for a mental condition

The decomposing body of 32-year-old Ashwin Anurag Shukla was found in the S12B block room of the boys' hostel, on the very FTII campus in Pune, on Friday, Aug. 5. He was last seen by his hostel mates almost three days earlier, on 2 August.

The incident came to light when the stench from the body began to spread. According to reports, Shukla was found hanging in his hostel room and the death is being investigated as a case of suicide.

"The body was in a decomposed state," Murlidhar Karpe, senior inspector of Deccan Gymkhana police station, told The Quint.

"Prima facie, it is a case of suicide. But no suicide note has been found so far and our investigation is on," he added.

Shukla hailed from Goa's Salvador do Mundo and was reportedly a student of the 2017 batch of cinematography course in FTII.

Students spewed anger at the administration, pointing to the vacant warden’s post, claiming that the institute was aware that Shukla was battling a mental condition, but failed to protect him on many counts.

"Shukla did not mix with anyone easily but attended classes and practicals regularly. We saw him last on Monday evening, while he was entering his room. We informed the administration after noticing a foul smell. All the students are shocked. It is a very unfortunate incident. We have been demanding for several months that a full-time warden be appointed, but nothing has been done," students told Pune Mirror.

Another student said, "Shukla had a bit of a problem with his dislocated shoulder. For that, he used to do medication. He took medicine to make him sleepy. Hence, nobody wanted to disturb him. However, that he would do something like this is beyond our imagination. We are shocked."

Shukla's last rites were performed in Pune on Aug. 6. He is survived by his parents and a twin brother.

"He did not have many friends on campus – he mostly kept to himself. But he was regularly attending classes and practicals. He was very participatory in classes, so people knew of him," an FTII student told The Quint, on the condition of anonymity.

"He was my family. Today is the first day I can talk about it without having a breakdown. When I met him, he told me about the recce he was doing for his dissertation project. He was very excited to work on that film in December. That's how he has been from our undergraduate college days. I am still in shock," Shukla’s friend, Dattaraj Bodke told, The Quint.

"I met him after a gap of two years, due to the pandemic, and I did not notice anything out of the ordinary that day. When we were in our undergraduate days, he was like a guiding force to us as he was a couple of years older, and had some experience in photography. I remember seeing a photo of him when he was three years, with a camera. That's how much he wanted to be a filmmaker. He had rock-solid goals and self-belief," Chirayu, a Pune-based photographer, told The Quint.

"His sense of lighting and framing was unlike others. I remember that's how we became friends. I wanted to learn from him, and he did end up teaching me a lot." filmmaker, Srikant Prasad Nishtala told, The Quint.