Student From Telangana Dies By Suicide At IIT Kharagpur

A student from Telangana has died by suicide at the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, the administration said in a statement today. IIT-Kharagpur has been in the news over student suicides in recent times.

"With a sense of utter shock, the students, staff and faculty members of IIT Kharagpur deeply mourn the sudden demise of K Kiran Chandra, a 4th year dual degree student in the Department of Electrical Engineering," IIT Kharagpur said in a statement.

The institute said Chandra stayed at the Lal Bahadur Shastri (LBS) Hall of Residence and he died by suicide on Tuesday night.

"Till about 7:30 pm, Chandra was with two of his roommates in their hostel room. Later, the other two students left for academic activities. Subsequently, around 8.30 pm, fellow boarders of the LBS Hall found his room locked from inside. The door was forced open... Despite all efforts by doctors, Chandra was declared dead around 11:30 pm," IIT Kharagpur said in the statement.

The police are investigating the matter. The student's family reached the campus this morning, IIT Kharagpur said.

The Education Ministry's data in December 2021 showed that since 2014, the IITs saw 34 suicides of which 18 were from the Other Backward Classes and the Scheduled Castes communities. Each day, six students die by suicide due to academic failure in India, government data shows.

Between 2014 and October 2022, 15 students from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana have died by suicide across IITs. In December 2019, the Human Resource Minister told parliament that the IITs and the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) saw 60 student suicides in the five years till 2019.

Of these, 23 IITs accounted for 50 student suicides, while 20 IIMs reported 10 student suicides. IIT Bombay, IIT Delhi, IIT Kharagpur, IIT Madras and IIT Hyderabad reported the highest student suicides in the five years till 2019.