Galla was struggling with studies, depressed about F-1 visa status.
AB Wire
The body of an Indian student at Cal State Fullerton, Praveen Gulla, originally from Tirupati, was found floating in the waters of Newport Pier off the Newport Beach, California, earlier this month.
An autopsy was completed but Galla’s cause of death has not been determined and is pending test results, reported The Orange County Register.
Reports said Galla was struggling with his studies, and depressed about his student F-1 visa status in the country.
The body of Galla was found 1,000 feet from the pier in Newport Beach, according to the Orange County coroner’s office, reported the Los Angeles Times.
Galla’s roommates reported him missing Feb. 2 after he failed to return home, according to the Cal State Fullerton Police Department.
He had taken an Uber ride on Feb. 1 from Fullerton to the campus and arrived there at 5:06 p.m. A friend reported receiving a “check-in” notification on his cellphone later that Galla had been in the Newport Beach area, police said. Authorities believe that Galla took a bus from Fullerton to Newport Beach.
On Feb. 9, reports said lifeguards from Huntington Beach found Galla’s body in the ocean.
Friends told university police that it was unusual for Galla not to return home, and that he was depressed lately about the status of his student visa, according to Capt. Scot Willey, reported the Times.
“From what I understand, he was struggling with his studies and was worried about his status in the country,” Willey said. “His friends said he wasn’t suicidal, but was depressed about it.”
The Register quoted Willey as saying of Galla: “His worry was that he might be on academic probation, and he would have been worried about his student visa.”
Galla was a second-year engineering student.
“Praveen was a bright young mind and a valued member of our campus,” Cal State Fullerton President Mildred Garcia wrote in an email to the campus community. “While we are still learning details of the circumstances surrounding his death, we do know that he will be missed. The entire Titan family offers our support to his family, friends and classmates during this trying time.”
Galla, a former student of Gitam University, Bubaneswar, was a native of Tirupati, Chittoor district. The Consulate General of India in San Francisco urged Fullerton University Police and local authorities to activate their efforts to trace Galla after the student’s friend M. Kore and others sent in requests to external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj for help, reported the Deccan Chronicle. Galla’s father, Galla Nageswara Rao, a native of Nelimarla in Irala mandal, is settled in Tirupati.
Galla’s uncle from New Jersey and cousin from San Francisco had arrived to Orange County to help with the search with the student’s roommates and friends.
3 Comments
We are depressed and frustrated with academics. All of us are. So something happens tomorrow, you just say it’s suicide? This is not acceptable. You just can’t conclude that it’s a suicide.
I know Praveen as a child, a very very shy boy and never rebels, his parents are too possessive and caring, Praveen is a victim of being too innocent and never questions, it’s a terrible loss to the bereaved family who have struggled from a remote village to reach Praveen to the shores of USA, getting through and feeling let down in academics is a natural process, what I feel enraged is the threat the child faced for not keeping up with academics, the American government should first check the system followed by universities as to how they are handling students issues when it comes to theses circumstances where the child goes all out to give up life than face the circumstances prevailing in the university rules which seems to annoy the students. Did the university follow stipulated rules of informing the parents of student’s grades, in case the university informed the parents, then what sort of counseling are the university following is a subject of grave concern, there seems to be much questions than answers when it comes to students welfare, hope this situation may not arise to any student hereafter.
I know Praveen as a child, a very very shy boy and never rebels, his parents are too possessive and caring, Praveen is a victim of being too innocent and never questions, it’s a terrible loss to the bereaved family who have struggled from a remote village to reach Praveen to the shores of USA, getting through and feeling let down in academics is a natural process, what I feel enraged is the threat the child faced for not keeping up with academics, the American government should first check the system followed by universities as to how they are handling students issues when it comes to theses circumstances where the child goes all out to give up life than face the circumstances prevailing in the university rules which seems to annoy the students. Did the university follow stipulated rules of informing the parents of student’s grades, in case the university informed the parents, then what sort of counseling are the university following is a subject of grave concern, there seems to be much questions than answers when it comes to students welfare, hope this situation may not arise to any student hereafter.