IIM-A student hangs self on eve of management fest

Ahmedabad: A second-year PGP student at the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-A) hanged himself his hostel room at the B-school's new campus in Vastrapur on Thursday. Police investigators believe stress may have been the likely cause behind the suicide even as the incident is being probed further.
According to Vastrapur police, the deceased, Akshith Bhukya, 24, a native of Warangal in Telangana, was found hanging in his hostel room at around 10.45am.
Following his death, the IIM-A authorities declared The Red Brick Summit (TRBS), a premier management conclave, cancelled. Bhukya was the primary coordinator for the prestigious three-day event, scheduled to begin on Sept 27.
"Prima facie, we do not suspect any foul play in the incident. The investigation so far indicates that Bhukya was possibly under stress due to the TRBS that was scheduled to begin on Friday. This is just the preliminary detail, and we are further investigating if he suffered from depression or if there was any other issue at play," said Himanshu Kumar Verma, DCP, Zone-1.
Verma said that Bhukya was a native of Warangal. His parents have been informed about the incident. They were expected to reach Ahmedabad on Thursday night.
V D Mori, in-charge inspector of Vastrapur police, said that Bhukya was coordinating for the Red Brick Summit and had spoken to a friend at around 10am on Thursday. "After talking to his friend, he went to his room at around 10.30am. When calls made by his friends went unanswered, they came to check on him and knocked on the door of his room. When they received no response, they entered his room through the window and found him hanging by a rope," Mori said.
"His friends told us that he was the lead coordinator for the summit and was under stress," Mori added. The nature of stress, however, is being investigated.
"We have registered a case of accidental death. The body has been sent to Sola Civil Hospital for postmortem."
Bhukya's LinkedIn profile mentions that he was a BTech graduate in computer science from Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology, Bhopal. He worked as a software developer for more than a year in Hyderabad before joining the IIM-A in 2023.
Earlier this year, he interned at S&P Global in Hyderabad. He was in the second year of the Post Graduate Programme (PGP), the flagship MBA course of IIM-A. Bhukya was set to graduate next year. Details about his placement could not be ascertained.
Shock and sorrow at IIM-A
A statement issued by IIM Ahmedabad (IIM-A) expressed grief over the untimely demise of their student. "The institute is deeply grieved to share the news about the untimely demise of our second-year MBA student Akshith Bhukya in his room on the afternoon of September 26, 2024, Thursday. We pray for the departed soul and extend our heartfelt condolences to his family… The Institute assures and is fully committed to providing all support to the bereaved members of Mr. Akshith's family and the IIMA community at large."
Sources at the institute said he was known to his classmates as a hardworking and brilliant student who volunteered for several initiatives. It was his drive for leadership that prompted him to helm The Red Brick Summit (TRBS) at IIM-A as its primary coordinator.
"I fail to accept that academics could have been a stressor. He was close to several students, and we are yet to gather more details about his final hours. He had been busy with the arrangements for the event for nearly one month," a source at the institute said.
Red Brick Summit cancelled
IIM-A officials confirmed to TOI that the Red Brick Summit (TRBS) 2024, which was scheduled to be held from Sept 27 to 29, has been cancelled. "We are deeply shocked and saddened by the untimely demise of Akshith Bhukya, who was the coordinator for the event. In light of the development, the event stands cancelled," a senior official said.
Notably, this year's edition of the annual management summit was to have Gautam Adani, the chairman of the multibillion-dollar Adani Group, as the keynote speaker on Friday.
Other prominent speakers included Chiratae Ventures founder chairman Sudhir Sethi, Android TV product head Rajneesh Jindia, and Physics Wallah founder Alakh Pandey. The event attracts B-school students, academia, and professionals for discussions on management topics, said IIM-A sources. The event was introduced in 2017, and the last event had attracted over 60,000 participants online and offline, they said.
Second suicide in four years
This is the second suicide at IIM-A in the past four years. On Jan 20, 2021, a 25-year-old PGP student, Drishti Raj Kahnani, hanged herself from the ceiling fan in her dorm room. She was a native of Muzaffarpur, Bihar and had pursued her education in New Delhi before getting into the premier B-school.