"I Don't Care": Indian Student's Chilling Words Days Before Death In US

Days before he went missing and was later found dead in California, 22-year-old Indian student Saketh Sreenivasaiah ate and talked less and even went to class in a bathrobe, showing clear signs of distress, his college roommate recalled.

His roommate Baneet Singh in a LinkedIn post, that he later made private, said Sreenivasaiah was surviving on chips and cookies for almost a fortnight before he was reported missing on February 9. "Life as an international student is tough, man...There were no signs of anything until the last 2 weeks, when he ate less, engaging less and slept less, surviving only on chips and cookies. On Jan 21, he also invited me to Lake Anza, hoping I would come with him (I was too lazy to). Little did I know that would be the same place he'd take his life," he wrote, per Hindustan Times.

He remembered when he once returned from a class in a red bathrobe and said, "I've stopped caring, man. I'm cold and don't care what anyone thinks of me."

Singh said he laughed it off, thinking "Saketh was being funny as usual". "He was always up to something silly. 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," he wrote.

Singh is now working with authorities to fly his family to the US on an emergency visa. He remembered Sreenivasaiah as a friend who "lived, ate, travelled, laughed and joked with me", The Times Of India reported. After his post went viral, he made his LinkedIn profile private.

Hailing from Karnataka, Sreenivasaiah was studying Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at University of California Berkeley. He went missing on February 9, prompting a citywide search around Lake Anza and the Berkeley Hills areas by the police and community members. He was last seen around a kilometre away from campus, and his backpack, containing his passport and laptop, was found near a residence close to Tilden Regional Park.

Saketh Sreenivasaiah was an alumnus of IIT Madras.

The Karnataka government too requested the Ministry of External Affairs to extend all necessary assistance, to coordinate with local law enforcement, and provide support to the student's family.

His body was found on February 14 around Lake Anza, ending the six-day search.

In an X post on Saturday, the Indian Consulate in San Francisco confirmed the recovery of his body and offered condolences to his family. The Consulate said it "stands ready to provide all necessary assistance to the family, including coordination with local authorities and arrangements for the repatriation of mortal remains to India at the earliest." "Our consular officers are in direct contact with the family and will support them with all required formalities and services," it added.

Sreenivasaiah, an alumnus of IIT Madras, had attended Bengaluru's Sri Vani Education Centre for his schooling. He was one of six inventors to hold a patent for a "microchannel cooling system for hyperloop and a method thereof," according to his LinkedIn profile. Friends and colleagues remember him as a person of quick wit, humility, brilliance, and loyalty.