IIT Kharagpur PhD scholar found dead in hostel room; suicide feared

KOLKATA/KHARAGPUR: A 27-year-old IIT Kharagpur PhD research scholar from mech-anical engineering department was found hanging in his room at B R Ambedkar Hall on Saturday. This is the fifth unnatural death on the campus this year and sixth in the past 12 months.


Harsh Kumar Pandey, who hailed from Ranchi, had taken admission in the PhD programme this Jan and was specialising in thermal and fluids engineering. His body was discovered around 2pm and was sent to B C Roy Hospital, where he was declared dead. Police suspect Pandey died by suicide. A formal statement will be issued after the autopsy on Sunday.

The last death on the campus was on July 18, when a 4th-year mechanical engineering student was found hanging in his hostel room.The research scholar’s father had tried calling up his son several times and then contacted the hall manager’s office.

“The manager informed the IIT security office. The student’s room was found to be locked from inside and there was no response to knocks. The authorities then informed Hijli police. When cops broke open the door, Harsh was found hanging,” a source said.

According to campus sources, Harsh appeared disturbed and depressed for a couple of days after performing poorly in a recent exam. “He was seen roaming alone in the hostel. His performance in two consecutive comprehensive exams had not been good,” said a student.

Harsh had done BTech from Techno International, New Town, and MTech from Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology.


The institute in a statement said it was extending full cooperation to the authorities and had constituted a fact-finding committee to examine the matter and submit a report.


Rattled by back-to-back suicides, the IIT administration had set up an experts’ panel to look into the triggers for such deaths. After the panel submitted its report, the institute took several steps to address student well-being.

It launched an AI-driven mental wellness initiative called SETU, created the post of dean of student well-being, restructured its counselling centre, set up students’ task force at hostels, and stress management workshops and reiterated that mental health counselling services were available to students, faculty and staff 24x7.

“This heartbreaking loss has left us all in deep shock and grief. It’s unfortunate that at a time when the institute is taking steps to prevent deaths on the campus, another student was found dead.

Through initiatives such as the Board of Hope and the dean of student well-being, we remain committed to building a compassionate ecosystem that listens, supports, and uplifts every member of our community,” said institute director Suman Chakraborty.


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