In a devastating incident that has sent shockwaves through the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur community, a fourth-year student, K Kiran Chandra, aged 21 and hailing from Telangana, was discovered hanging in his hostel room on Tuesday night in the Paschim Medinipur district. While the institute has initially described the incident as an act of self-harm, the local police have launched an investigation to uncover the full circumstances surrounding the tragedy.
Kiran Chandra was pursuing his studies in the electrical engineering department at the prestigious institution. He was found lifeless by fellow hostelmates, who promptly rushed him to the IIT-Kharagpur campus hospital. Unfortunately, he was declared dead upon arrival.
The local authorities have registered the case as an unnatural death and have sent Chandra's body for a post-mortem examination at the Midnapore Medical College and Hospital. A senior police officer confirmed the ongoing investigation, emphasizing the importance of understanding the events that led to this tragic outcome.
In an official statement, IIT-Kharagpur expressed profound sorrow over the untimely demise of Mr K Kiran Chandra, a fourth-year Dual Degree student in the Department of Electrical Engineering. The institute shared that Chandra was a resident of the Lal Bahadur Shastri (LBS) Hall of Residence and had chosen the path of self-harm on the night of October 17, 2023.
The statement further detailed that Chandra had been in the company of two roommates until approximately 7:30 PM, after which the two students left for their academic commitments. Later, at around 8:30 PM, other residents of the LBS Hall noticed that his room was locked from the inside. They took swift action to force the door open, only to discover Chandra's lifeless body. Despite the immediate efforts of the medical staff, Kiran was pronounced dead at around 11:30 PM.
The family of the deceased student has been notified and arrived on the IIT-Kharagpur campus the following morning, offering support in this difficult time.
It's worth noting that this is not the first such incident to occur at IIT-Kharagpur. In October 2022, Faizan Ahmed, a third-year mechanical engineering student from Assam, was found dead in a hostel room. His family had subsequently sought a special investigation team (SIT) to probe his death. In April 2023, the Calcutta High Court ordered a second post-mortem examination of Faizan's body, underscoring the need to ascertain the truth. In June of the same year, another student, Suriya Dipen, was discovered deceased under mysterious circumstances on the institute's premises, with the police attributing his death to suicide.
The tragic loss of Kiran Chandra once again raises concerns about the mental well-being and support systems for students, prompting a broader conversation on the need for comprehensive mental health resources and intervention strategies within educational institutions.