delhi

Updated: Sep 19, 2017 11:04 IST

“… I hate the life of a prisoner. I want to get out of the delusion,” read a suicide note purportedly written by a young Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital doctor found hanging inside his rented accommodation on Monday morning.

Sidharth Shankar Mahapatra, 26, a first-year postgraduate student of anesthesiology at RML hospital, was found hanging inside his rented flat in central Delhi’s Old Rajender Nagar. Police said Mahapatra, a native of Odisha, who stayed with his two friends, committed suicide. Though police denied recovering any suicide note, a handwritten 16 line note, supposedly found in his room by his friends, was circulated on WhatsApp groups.

A handwritten 16 line note, supposedly found in Mahapatra’s room by his friends.

Police said they do not suspect foul play. Mahapatra’s two friends also work at the RML hospital. One had gone to Jharkhand, while the other had returned from night duty, when he found the body at around 8.38am.

A RML hospital spokesperson said Mahapatra had a history of depression and was under treatment. He was on medication and had also had electroconvulsive therapy (a procedure in which small electric currents are passed through the brain),” said the spokesperson.

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The handwritten note, purportedly written by Mahapatra reads, “Life is an illusion. It seems like space, all empty. The physical matter I feel like disappearing from this planet. I am unable to satisfy my hunger though I eat too much. I am unable to satisfy my thirst, though I drink too much. I could not feel the heat, the smell, the fragrance. The energy inside my body is drained.”

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“…this is something horrible. All I want is to live like a bird…I want to sleep in the lap of mother nature…,” the note read.

The hospital spokesperson said they have handed the note to the police.

Police said a forensic team inspected the room and also sent the body for post-mortem.

Mahapatra’s friends described him as cool, intelligent and obedient. “He was little reserved and usually kept to himself. He was very regular in his classes and had presented his thesis on the 12th of this month,” the hospital spokesperson said.

The doctor’s body has been kept at the RML mortuary. Police are waiting for his parents to come from Odisha.