A 30-year-old transgender person who was reportedly depressed killed herself by jumping off the Kotturpuram Bridge on Thursday afternoon.

The Times of India reported that Suji, the deceased, was seen sitting near the bridge by people in the neighbourhood around 2pm on Thursday.  One of them informed the Kottupuram police inspector M Manoharan that she might attempt suicide. 

The inspector arrived at the spot, and as the inspector was walking towards her, she jumped into the Adyar river from the bridge. She jumped into the river around 2:10pm.

She was a resident of the Kotturpuram Slum Clearance Board colony.

Suji’s aunt Poonkodi told ToI that she had met her earlier in the day and she was very depressed, and was also drinking for the last three days. She said that she had sent her away as she was drunk and that within 10 minutes, she came to know that she had killed herself.

Inspector J Prabhu of Abhiramapuram police also reached the spot and used a small boat from Madras boat club and found her body around 3:40pm. He said that fire and rescue personnel also had arrived but could not reach the spot due to traffic. The vehicle had to approach the river from a lane on the other bank as the bridge had been crowded by people after this incident.

DC reports that in the last 10 years, the Kotturpuram bridge area has witnessed more than 20 suicide cases. In December 2012, husband of Carnatic vocalist Nithyasree Mahadevan's killed himself from the same spot. Now the site is seen as a ‘copycat’ suicide spot. Later, in 2015, Chennai corporation proposed to build a higher wall along the bridge to reduce the suicide cases.

Research suggests that transgender people are more likely to consider or attempt suicide if they are rejected by their families or lack social support, and with strong support from families, transgender people are 82% less likely to attempt suicide.