5th death in 10 months: BITS Pilani Goa student found dead on campus; depression suspected

VASCO: A 19-year-old student of BITS Pilani, Goa campus, Rishi Nair from Bengaluru was found dead in his hostel room on Thursday. This is the fifth student death recorded in 10 months on the campus and the second within a month.

Police said Rishi went into a depression after his girlfriend had died by suicide two and a half months ago in Hyderabad, and his parents shifted him to the Goa campus. On Thursday morning, his parents who also shifted along with him to Goa, tried to get in touch with Rishi but he did not answer their calls. When their calls went unanswered, they rushed to the campus and along with the hostel staff went to his room. They found him dead on his bed, police said.

Police said Rishi was on anti-depressant pills, and they were awaiting postmortem examination report to ascertain whether he had died by suicide or due to over consumption of the tablets. “We found vomit in Rishi’s room,” Verna police inspector Anand Shirodkar said.

“We have come to understand that his girlfriend had died by suicide in Hyderabad some two and half months ago. This led him to go under severe depression, impacting his studies ", Shirodkar said.

The institute said Rishi was courageously managing a personal health challenge and was undergoing clinical treatment of late.

“His parents moved to Goa to support him in his academic pursuit for one semester. Recently, he was transferred from our Hyderabad campus for one semester. We are fully cooperating with the police investigation to ascertain the cause of death,” BITS Pilani Goa campus PRO Arjun Halarnkar said in a statement issued late Thursday evening.

The BITS Pilani Goa campus has recorded five deaths of students within one year — Priyan Singh (December 2024), Atharv Desai (March 2025), Krishna Kasera (May 2025), Kushagra Jain (August 2025), and Rishi Nair (September 3, 2025).

“The loss of a young life is an unimaginable tragedy, deeply grieving our entire community. Our thoughts and prayers are with Rishi's family, friends, and all affected. We encourage everyone to seek support from campus counselling services to deal with difficult circumstances", said Halarnkar.