Roommate recounts final days of Berkeley student Saketh Sreenivasaiah
Saketh's friend’s LinkedIn post reveals behavioural changes and disturbing last words after the 22-year-old Indian student was found dead
After 22-year-old Saketh Sreenivasaiah was found dead near Lake Anza in California on Sunday (February 15), his roommate Baneet Singh shared a deeply personal account of the student’s final days.
In a LinkedIn post that drew widespread attention, Singh wrote, “Hey all, my Berkeley roommate, Saketh Sreenivasaiah, has been found dead in Lake Anza near the Berkeley hills.”
Also Read: Missing Karnataka student Saketh Sreenivasaiah found dead in California
Reflecting on the weeks before his disappearance, Singh said there were no visible warning signs until recently. He noted that Saketh had “started eating less and engaging less, only surviving on chips and cookies” in the last two weeks.
Singh also said Saketh had invited him to Lake Anza on January 21, but he did not go along. He described that decision with regret.
The last conversation
Recalling their final exchange, Singh said he once saw Saketh returning from class wearing a red bathrobe. When he asked, “Why are you wearing a robe to class?” Saketh replied, “I've stopped caring, man. I'm cold and don't care what anyone thinks of me. I don't care about anything.”
Singh said he laughed at that time, thinking his roommate was “just being silly as usual”. In hindsight, he viewed the moment differently.
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“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,” Singh wrote.
A call for compassion and privacy
Singh urged people to use the tragedy as a reminder to check on loved ones. “I didn't expect this from a friend who lived, ate, travelled, laughed and joked with me. It hurts,” he wrote.
As the post gained traction online, Singh later made his profile private, adding, “Story got a lot of attraction. Gonna make my profile private for now. I would appreciate some privacy during these times.”
His account has since sparked conversations about mental health struggles among international students and the importance of recognising subtle signs of distress.
Saketh, a student of the UC Berkeley University in California, studying Master of Science in the Product Development Programme, went missing on February 8. The state's police department and the Indian Consulate in San Francisco worked together in searching for the lost student for the past several days until his body was found on Sunday. The cause of his death has not yet been formally confirmed by the authorities as suicide.
(Suicides can be prevented. For help, please call Suicide Prevention Helplines: Neha Suicide Prevention Centre – 044-24640050; Aasara helpline for suicide prevention, emotional support & trauma help — +91-9820466726; Kiran, Mental health rehabilitation — 1800-599-0019, Disha 0471- 2552056, Maithri 0484 2540530, and Sneha’s suicide prevention helpline 044-24640050.)