Dead marine engineer's family suspects foul play

RANCHI: A marine engineer from the city reportedly committed suicide on board a cargo ship off Cyprus.
Vikas Ranjan was fresh out of college and left Ranchi 10 days ago on his first assignment on board a ship of Essar Shipping Limited. The 21-year-old was the youngest of three siblings.
Family members of Ranjan, however, suspect foul play. W Singh, his elder brother, said Ranjan was a brilliant student and loved his family."We were surprised to know from his company officials that he committed suicide. A boy, who was very courageous from his childhood, cannot end his life," said Singh.
Singh referred to a telephone call, which he had received, from Alok Bharadwaj, who claimed to be a company official, on October 26. Bharadwaj had informed Singh about Ranjan's accident. Just an hour later, Singh received another call from the same number. "… the person on the other side informed that Ranjan has committed suicide," said Singh, adding that how could an accident be called suicide.
According to a post mortem report, received by Ranjan's family from the company, the young engineer strangulated himself to death with a string from a life-jacket. Questioning the report, Singh said it was not possible for a person to strangulate himself.
"We are sure that he must have died in some accident and the company officials are trying to cover it up by calling it a suicide. We cannot accept the fact that Ranjan committed because he was aware that even a minor injury would leave us in deep pain," Singh said.
Officials of the shipping company, however, could not be contacted even after repeated attempts.
Shocked family members vowed to take action against those responsible for Ranjan's death. "We are waiting for the arrival of his body from Cyprus. We are not financially sound and would request the government to make arrangements to bring his body to Ranchi," said a family member.