Chennai: A 24-year-old college student jumped off the seventh floor of a high-rise apartment complex in Virugambakkam on Monday evening. The woman, J Niveditha miraculously survived after she fell on a parked car there. She is being admitted to a private hospital, where she is being treated for a ruptured backbone.

Rumours spreading like wild fire in the apartment complex about the suspicion of the student being a victim of the ‘blue whale challenge’ forced cops to go through the victim’s phone and other gadgets. “We have enquired with the family, who are ruling out the possibility. We would wait until the victim recovers from her injuries,” a senior police officer told DC.

Niveditha is a second year MCA (master of computer applications) student at a private college and lives with her family at a seventh floor apartment in the Jains West Minster apartment complex on Arunachalam road in Virugambakkam.

On Monday night, she had opened the grille gate in the balcony of her apartment and jumped, an investigating official said. Security guards and residents rushed hearing the loud thud. She was moved to a private hospital nearby where it was ascertained that she had multiple fractures on her backbone, police said.

Investigations revealed that she appeared to be suffering from depression for quite some time. “The parents seem to be unaware of any reasons,” an officer said.