Saketh Sreenivasaiah, the Indian-origin student from UC Berkeley who went missing near Lake Anza in California, was found dead after a five-day search, which involved the use of sonar, drones and divers working for the Alameda County sheriff’s office.
The students’ personal belongings were found close to the lake near Park Hill neighbourhood.
Hours after the student was confirmed dead by the Indian consulate in California, Saketh’s roommate and friend Baneet Singh took to LinkedIn to write, “My Berkeley roommate, Saketh Sreenivasaiah, has been found dead by suicide in Lake Anza near the Berkeley hills, according to police.”
Singh also said that he was working with authorities to fly his family to the US from India on an emergency visa.
“Life as an International student is tough, man,” Singh said.
Sreenivsaiah’s mood had shifted just two weeks earlier, according to the post, and he simply “stopped caring.”
“There were no signs of anything until the last 2 weeks, when he started eating less and engaging less, only surviving on chips and cookies.”
Singh also said that Sreenivasaih had invited him to Lake Anza on January 21, but he was “too lazy” to go adding, “Little did I know that would be the same place he’d take his life.”
“I didn’t expect this from a friend who lived, ate, travelled, laughed and joked with me,” Singh wrote.
He also recalled the last conversation he had with his roommate after saying that he found Sreenivasaiah coming back from class wearing a red bathrobe. When he asked why he was wearing a robe to the class, Sreenivasaih said, “I’ve stopped caring, man. I’m cold and don’t care what anyone thinks of me.”
“He was always up to something silly,” he wrote. “Now I know that he really meant it.”
He urged readers to connect with the friends and family “instead of sitting in sorrow”
Sreenivasaiah was working toward his master’s degree in the chemical and biomolecular engineering department, according to his LinkedIn profile.
The case has been handed over to the Contra Costa County coroner’s office, the Berkeley scanner reported.
