A 26-year-old student, who was pursuing post-graduation in the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, died after he allegedly jumped from the terrace of his hostel. The police said that the deceased had written a suicide note on the white board in his room, stating that no one was responsible for his death.
According to police officials, the incident took place at around 4.30 am on Monday, when he allegedly went to the terrace of the hostel to end his life.
“He was accommodated in a room on the fourth floor and he was staying alone in the room, so nobody came to know when he left the room,” said a police officer.
“Activity on campus is not as usual due to the pandemic restrictions. The number of students is lower due to the restrictions,” shared a resident of the same hostel.
The incident came to light when a watchman saw his body. “When he fell on the ground, the watchman heard the sound, after which he rushed to the spot and alerted everyone,” said the officer.
IIT officials, along with other students, rushed him to Rajawadi Hospital, where he was declared dead.
“He had written a note on the white board that was in his room. He wrote that nobody should be held responsible for his death and he has had enough trouble since his childhood,” said an officer.
The police said that the deceased, who was a second-year student of M. Tech, hailed from Indore.
“We have come to know that he was seeking treatment from a psychiatrist since the last three months and we are trying to find out whether he was going through depression since a long time, as his suicide note suggests,” said the officer.
He had joined IIT-Bombay in the middle of the pandemic last year.
He had completed Bachelor in Architecture in Indore, his hometown, before he joined IDC School of Design at IIT Bombay. He was pursuing ‘Communication Design Program’ – a post-graduation course with two-year tenure.
“He was a person with extraordinary talents in design, photography, architecture,” shared an old friend of his.
Powai police said that they have registered a case of accidental death and are investigating to ascertain whether there was any foul play. They said his family has been informed about the incident and they have come to Mumbai.
“A postmortem was conducted and the remains were handed over to the family of the student,” said another officer.
After the incident came to light, a special counselling session was held for residents of ths hostel by the Students’ Welfare Centre at the institute.
One of the hostel residents shared, “Even though everybody may not know him personally, living in the same hostel means you know the faces of fellow residents. It definitely is difficult to accept that one of us is no more, and such a tragic incident. It was good to see that the institute took this into account and after a group session for all, students were informed that they could talk to counselors on campus if required.”
While IIT Bombay did not issue an official statement, the PRO stated, “Very unfortunate incident took place at IIT Bombay today morning and we have lost a second-year Masters student. We condole the death of our student.”
According to data shared by Minister of Education Dharmendra Pradhan in the Lok Sabha in December 2021, between 2014 to 2021, a total of 34 cases of suicide were reported in various IITs.
Source: https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/mumbai/iit-bombay-student-jumps-to-death-from-hostel-building-7727263/
