‘Feel Like Burden’: Missing DU Student's Letter Hints At Suicide Bid; Family Slams ‘CCTV Blind Spot’
Delhi University student Sneha Debnath disappeared on July 7. A note found in her room suggests suicide while her family questions the police response, citing non-functional CCTV cameras.
New Delhi: Police and disaster-response teams are scouring the Yamuna after Delhi University student Sneha Debnath vanished on 7 July. An FIR (No. 483/25) under Section 140(3) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita at Mehrauli Police Station records the 24-year-old’s disappearance from Paryavaran Complex. A cab driver later told investigators he dropped her at Signature Bridge, not Sarai Rohilla station, where she had told her mother she was taking a friend for a 6.45 am train.
Sneha Debnath's Letter Found in Hostel Room
While the search was underway, Sneha’s family discovered a handwritten note in her room. “I had decided to ‘end my life’ by jumping from the Signature Bridge,” it reads, adding, “I just feel like a failure and burden and it was getting unbearable to live like this.” The letter insists there was “no foul play” and that the step was “my decision”, NDTV reported.
‘Critical Blind Spot’: Family Questions Police Response
Sneha’s parents, retired Subedar Major Pritish Debnath—who is on dialysis—and her mother, allege key CCTV cameras on and around Signature Bridge were out of order. “Upon contacting the cab driver, we were horrified to learn that… he had dropped her at Signature Bridge, a known critical spot where not a single CCTV camera is functional, creating a huge blind spot,” the family said in a statement.
They added that a 7-kilometre sweep by the National Disaster Response Force on 9 July yielded nothing. “What is most heartbreaking is that we still have no answers… We firmly believe that had the CCTV cameras… been functional, we might have known by now what happened to our daughter.”
Sneha’s sister Bipasha Debnath told NDTV, “There is no clue. Why was [she] depressed? What was happening? Nothing. Just four lines… Someone could have manipulated her. She is 19. Even if she ran away, she would have made calls, right? They (cops) are not getting anything… I feel we are doing more work.”
Tripura CM Orders Police Help
Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha has directed state police to assist Delhi authorities. His office posted on X: “The report of Miss Sneha Debnath… has come to the notice of the Chief Minister’s Office… necessary instructions have been promptly issued to the police to take immediate and appropriate action.”
Police say technical surveillance last placed Sneha’s phone at Signature Bridge, matching eyewitness accounts of a lone young woman seen there that morning. Teams from Mehrauli Police Station, the NDRF, and local units continue to comb the river between Nigam Bodh Ghat and Noida.
The family urges anyone with information, “no matter how small,” to contact authorities, stressing, “This is not just about Sneha, but about the safety and dignity of every young woman in this city.”
Top Headlines
