IIT-K forms committee to probe suicide

KANPUR: Authorities of the Indian Institute of Technology-Kanpur (IIT-K) have constituted a committee to investigate the suicidal death of Mehtab Ahmed, the first year BTech student of material sciences and engineering. Mehtab ended his life on Thursday by hanging himself from the ceiling fan at his hostel room. He was staying in room number D-307 of Hall IX in a single accommodation room.
Talking to mediapersons, registrar, IIT-Kanpur, Sanjeev S Kashalkar said the committee had been formed to find out the exact cause of Mehtab's suicidal death. He said Prof Omkar Dixit of civil engineering department, Prof AR Harish, head counselling service, Prof MK Ghorai of chemistry department, assistant registrar VP Singh and students' representative Abhinav Prateek were in the fact-finding committee. The panel would submit its report in 10 days.
It is worth mentioning here that Mehtab Ahmed, (roll no. 11397) BTech-I student of IIT-Kanpur, was a good student. The son of a sub-inspector Shaikh Ahmad, Mehtab had joined IIT-K on July 20 this year. He had secured 86% in Class XII and 77% in Class X. He had won many awards during his school time.
"He completed his schooling from Kannauj and was undoubtedly a good student, keeping in view his performance in Class XII and X in the UP Board. He was a brilliant student as he had cracked IIT-JEE in the very first attempt, but he took a wrong decision and ended his life," said Kashalkar.
The registrar also said after talking to Mehtab's father Shaikh Ahmed, it was learnt that Mehtab was under pressure. "He had been very emotional for the past few weeks. This is what we learnt after talking to Mehtab's father. Mehtab was being counselled and guided by his parents over his being so emotional but nothing proved enough. His parents also told us that he was an introvert and very sensitive. They also told us that Mehtab, being the youngest in the family, was the most loved one," said the registrar.
When asked the probable reason for suicide, Kashalkar said it would be found out by the committee. But, he said, Mehtab had appeared in four out of five papers in the midsemester exams, which ended on September 17. The results of the exams were yet to be declared but he had not appeared in humanities subject and had performed poorly in physics paper, as informed by Mehtab's mother.
"Mehtab had left for his home in Kannauj without appearing in the humanities exam. Next day he came back. His subject teacher asked him about the reason for not appearing in the exam and told him to appear in the make-up (exam) of the same subject. But, Mehtab did not respond to his teacher," the registrar informed.
It is important to highlight that Mehtab had written "I am tired of IIT-Kanpur" on the wall of his room with a pencil. He had also written three names-- Shubham Shukla, Ravi Kashyap and Umesh Chauhan-- on the wall. Kashalkar said those names were probably of Mehtab's friends staying in Kannauj.