The Kerala government has arranged for the embalming and repatriation of the body of a 20-year-old engineering student from Arunachal Pradesh who allegedly died by suicide in Kothamangalam, Higher Education Minister Roji M John said on August 17.
Michi Marpu, a BTech student at MA College of Engineering, was found dead at the rented accommodation he shared with college mates on Saturday. Police have registered a case and are investigating the circumstances surrounding his death.
According to the minister’s office, the Kerala government is bearing the entire cost of transporting the body to Marpu’s native place. The body was flown from Kochi to Delhi on Monday evening and is scheduled to reach Itanagar from Delhi on August 18. The Arunachal Pradesh administration has been asked to arrange an ambulance with a mobile freezer to take the body from Donyi Polo Airport to his family home in Ziro, Lower Subansiri district.
The incident has also raised concerns over the year-back system at the college. John said he had discussed the matter with the college authorities and an agreement had been reached to follow the regulations of Kerala Technological University (KTU), to which the institution is affiliated.
Police suspect Marpu may have feared losing an academic year because of a low credit score. Students and parents had earlier raised concerns over the system, claiming that the college required higher minimum credits than other engineering colleges in Kerala.
The year-back system, introduced in 2024, required students who failed to secure the prescribed credits by the fifth semester to be moved back by a year. KTU’s newly formed syndicate recently decided to temporarily suspend the system following concerns raised by students and parents.
