Mita Mukherjee
A fourth-year student of IIT-Kharagpur was found dead in the students’ hostel of the institute on Tuesday night. According to the police it is suspected to be a case of suicide and they are investigating the matter.
A release issued by the institute, however, said the student “ chose the path of self-harm”. The 21-year old deceased student identified as K Kiran Chandra, hailed from Telengana and studied in the electrical engineering department of the institute.
Sources at the institute said he was found dead by his hostel mates and was immediately rushed to the hospital within the campus where the doctors declared him dead.
A case of unnatural death has been registered by the police and the body of the deceased student has been sent for post-mortem.
According to the police preliminary investigation revealed that it is case of suicide. The IIT-Kharagpur release said: “ With a sense of utter shock, the Students, Staff and Faculty members of IIT Kharagpur deeply mourn the sudden demise of Mr. K Kiran Chandra, a 4th year Dual Degree student in the Department of Electrical Engineering. He was a boarder of the Lal Bahadur Shastri (LBS) Hall of Residence and chose the path of self-harm on the night of 17th October, 2023.”
According to the institute, the deceased student was seen in his hostel room with two of his roommates till 7.30 pm. Later, nearly an hour after two of the roommates left the room for some activities, some boarders in the same hostel found that the room was locked from inside. The students and other staff broke opened the door and found Chandra hanging from the ceiling of the room at around 8.30 pm. They took him to the hospital where the doctors declared him dead after a few hours.
His family was informed about the incident and they arrived at the institute on Wednesday morning. His brother is also a student of the institute but he was not present on the campus at the time of the incident.
IIT-Kharagpur hit the national headlines last October after Faizan Ahmed, a 23-year old student hailing from Tinsukia in Assam was found dead inside his hostel room on October 14 last year. He was a student of the mechanical engineering department of the institution.
Faizan was found lying on the floor of his hostel room and there were marks on his body. An FIR was filed by the police at Kharagpur Town station and the police had suspected that Faizan’s death was due to ragging.
Later Faizan’s family had moved Calcutta High Court in November alleging that he had not committed suicide.
Another student from Tamil Nadu died in a mysterious situation in June this year.
Also read: Red Alert! Rising tide of child & youth suicides
Posted in Campus, News
