College refunds tuition fees following student's suicide

The family of Harshvardhan Kaushik Chirala, who committed suicide one month ago, has been reimbursed the tuition fees that had been paid before the tragic incident, adminstrators at BITS Pilani-Dubai Campus (BPDC) told Gulf News. A sum of Dh12,500 has been sent by BPDC through courier service to the family of the fourth-year student who ended his life last month, college administrators said. At the time of his death, shocked friends had claimed that Chirala had resorted to the extreme step because the university had charged him Dh5,000 for an internship with a Dubai company. It was alleged he was quickly removed from the temporary job after scoring low test marks. Nahid Afshan, senior manager in charge of admissions at BPDC, has since rejected claims that the 21-year-old had been asked to pay for the internship. "Representatives of our institution contacted the father of the student and subsequently met the parents at their residence and in the hospital and offered all help possible from the institution," Afshan told Gulf News. "Upon being informed about the untimely death, the institution had decided to refund the amount of Dh7,500 paid as a first instalment tuition fee of the first semester of 2011-12, along with a lab caution deposit of Dh5,000 that was paid by him at the time of admission. "A demand draft for Dh12,500 has already been prepared and the institution is awaiting the parents' return from India to hand it over," Afshan had said earlier. In a letter to Gulf News, the institution's spokesman also stressed that the student was "never asked to pay Dh5,000 separately" for the internship that is said to have tipped him into despair. Under investigation The student joined BPDC in September 2008 and was studying for his BE (Hons) in Electronics and Communication Engineering. He was a day-scholar, commuting from his home in Dubai's Al Ghusais area, according to the university. It's believed he slashed his wrists before hanging himself. The details surrounding the death are still being investigated. The tragedy unfolded on September 11. Chirala's death is not the first to rock the tight-knit campus. Last year a 30-year-old PhD student died after jumping from a building on the campus.