In a tragic turn of events, 22-year-old Indian postgraduate student Saketh Sreenivasaiah from Karnataka was found dead in Lake Anza, California, on Saturday local time, less than a week after he went missing. Saketh, enrolled in the Master of Science program at the University of California, Berkeley, had left behind his backpack containing his passport and laptop on a doorstep in the Park Hills neighborhood, raising alarms among his loved ones and authorities.
Saketh's roommate, Baneet Singh, shared a poignant account of the student's final days, suggesting that Saketh died by suicide. Singh described how Saketh had been eating less and displaying a growing indifference in the lead-up to his disappearance, behaviors that now appear tragically telling in hindsight.
The last interaction between the two roommates was particularly striking. Singh recounted Saketh returning from class dressed in a red bathrobe. “I asked him ‘why are you wearing a robe to class’, with a smirk on my face,” Singh wrote. Saketh reportedly replied, “‘I've stopped caring man. I'm cold and don’t care what anyone thinks of me. I don’t care about anything.’”
Reflecting on that exchange, Singh offered a profound observation: “Now I know that he really meant it. The opposite of life was never death, it was indifference. To stop caring. Which led to him not caring for his own life, either.” This statement underscores the depth of Saketh's emotional detachment as perceived by those closest to him.
Prior to the recovery of his body, Saketh's backpack was discovered abandoned, containing essential items like his passport and laptop, which intensified search efforts in the area around Lake Anza and the Park Hills neighborhood.
Local police have yet to release official details surrounding the circumstances of Saketh's death, leaving many questions unanswered as the investigation continues. The university community and Saketh's family in Karnataka mourn the loss of the promising young scholar.
