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HomeIndiaShiv Nadar University murder-suicide: Shooter’s video note cites ‘cancer, ex-girlfriend's affairs’

Shiv Nadar University murder-suicide: Shooter’s video note cites ‘cancer, ex-girlfriend’s affairs’

Accused Anuj Singh, who died by suicide, had shot Sneha Chaurasia using a 'country-made pistol'. Police say probe is on & they're questioning witnesses. No FIR lodged. 

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New Delhi: A 21-year-old student pursuing BA Sociology at Shiv Nadar University Thursday shot dead his classmate, whom he allegedly felt rejected by, before reportedly dying by suicide.

In a nearly 23-minute-long video, which ThePrint has accessed, Anuj Singh can be seen talking about how his classmate Sneha Chaurasia had “changed his life”. In the end he claimed that he was suffering from “third-stage brain cancer” and that he had decided to punish her after finding out that she was “having affairs with multiple men”.

No FIR has been registered in the case so far since no official police complaint has been made. The autopsies of both were conducted Friday. The victim was shot twice, once in the chest and once in the abdomen, said sources in the police. The incident was captured on CCTV.

According to sources in Greater Noida Police, Singh and Chaurasia were involved in a relationship that had lasted a year. Subsequently, Singh expressed a desire to reconcile with Chaurasia, but she was in a relationship with someone else.

“He sent the video on Google Drive to some of his friends before shooting himself,” DCP (Greater Noida) Saad Miya Khan told ThePrint. “He fired a single shot to his head. We are verifying details and whatever he has claimed in the video about his illness, and questioning witnesses.”

Police said that CCTV footage revealed that the duo had spoken with each other before the incident and even hugged outside the dining hall of the university before Singh took out a country-made pistol and shot Chaurasia.

“We are investigating how he got the pistol and how he managed to bring it inside the campus. There have been security lapses in the university and all this is being investigated,” a source said.

ThePrint reached Shiv Nadar University via calls to its official numbers. This report will be updated if and when a response is received.

In the video uploaded by Singh, he had said: “I might be seen as a monster after this but I did no wrong. I would like to apologise to her parents for doing this but your daughter doesn’t deserve to be called your daughter…”.

Speaking to The Indian Express, however, Singh’s family said that he was “physically fit” and did not suffer from any ailment. They also said that they were not aware of Singh and Chaurasia’s relationship.

ThePrint reached Anuj Singh and Sneha Chaurasia’s families via calls, but did not receive a response at the time of publishing this story. This report will be updated if and when responses are received.


Also Read: Ashoka University student found dead outside campus, police say he consumed poison


Claims of emotional trauma, brain cancer

Anuj Singh shot Sneha Chaurasia outside the dining hall of the university at around 1:30 pm.

In the video uploaded on Google Drive, Singh claimed to be dealing with a “lot of emotional trauma”. He said that his married sister “was burnt alive” and his uncle had died of a heart attack after being cheated upon by his wife. It was during this time, he claimed, that Chaurasia had come into his life and “made everything beautiful”.

Things went south in December, he alleged, when he came to know that Chaurasia had been having an affair with a person working in the mess at the university. She later broke up with him. He said that he could not bear the emotional trauma and had requested her to not leave him.

He also alleged that, at the time of making the video, Chaurasia had been in a relationship with a person identified as “Karan”, a videographer, and complained about Singh to the dean of Shiv Nadar University.

She had also told her friends that she was being “harassed” and alleged “physical assault”, he said in the video. He then added that after he found out about his “terminal illness”, he had decided to “punish” her.

“I know this is not justified and I am not looking for justification. Should she not be punished for hurting my mental health and affecting my studies? I have two years to live without surgery. I’m shattered and broken. Call me selfish or coward but I had to do this,” he said.

He also added that Chaurasia had informed him that she was “severely depressed” and was on medications and therapy, but he claimed that this was a lie.

A day after the incident, Chaurasia’s father, speaking to The Indian Express, had announced that he would file a police report against the university, but no FIRs have been filed yet. Meanwhile, the same report had quoted Singh’s uncle Jaiveer as saying that they were unaware of their relationship and that he was “physically healthy”, contrary to the youth’s claim that he had brain cancer.

20 days before the incident, Singh had visited his family at home. “He stayed here for five days and appeared completely normal. He informed us that he intended to pursue graduate studies in the US and that his university was sending him abroad for a year. Other than that, everything seemed to be in order,” Jaiveer Singh told The Indian Express. “He was participating in our farming activities.”

“He was good at sports. If he had any illnesses, the symptoms would have shown. It is shocking that the boy did this. We were informed (by the university) that he was not well and upon reaching here, we came to know of the suicide. Much later, we were told that he shot a girl dead. We don’t know anything about how he got the gun. Many of his claims in the video about issues in the family are not true,” Jaiveer added.

(If you are feeling suicidal or depressed, please call a helpline number in your state. Aasra.info/helpline)

(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri)


Also Read:  ‘Institutional murder’ — as DU’s ad hoc faculty lose jobs en masse, ex-professor’s death sparks protests


 

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