Denied bank loan, Kerala nursing student ends life

Kottayam, April 30 (IANS) A Kerala nursing student, who poisoned herself after failing to secure an education loan, died at a medical college here Monday.

Shruthi Srikanth was a bright student, doing her B.Sc. Nursing course at a college in Andhra Pradesh and had completed her first year with 80 percent marks. Since last December,however, she was unable to resume her studies following the denial of an education loan by a leading private sector bank near here.

An endless wait for a bank loan for pursuing her dream profession proved a nightmare for Shruthi.

Unable to continue her studies without a loan, Shruthi on April 17 drank a poisonous pesticide and was under treatment at the medical college hospital here.

"I approached Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on three occasions and also Home Minister T. Radhakarishnan, informing them about the delay in sanctioning a bank loan for my daughter. Nothing happened and now, my daughter has also left us. My only plea now is nobody else should suffer such a fate," said her grieving father, Srikanth.

Following Shruthi's death, locals vented their ire on the private sector bank that had refused her the loan, forcing the deployment of policemen at the bank.

A shutdown in protest against the bank has been called in the vicinity of the area where Shruthi resided and various youth organisations attached to political parties also took out angry marches.