News Uttar Pradesh PhD student at IIT-Kanpur hangs herself in hostel room, 3rd incident in a month

PhD student at IIT-Kanpur hangs herself in hostel room, 3rd incident in a month

According to the police, the deceased was a native of Jharkhand's Dumka and she was pursuing a PhD in Chemical Engineering. She got admission to the institute on December 29 last year.

IIT Kanpur Image Source : REPRESENTATIONAL PICIIT Kanpur

Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur, is once again in the news for the wrong reason. A 29-year-old PhD student at the premium institute, allegedly ended her life by hanging herself from the ceiling fan of her room on Thursday. This was the third case of suicide at the IIT-Kanpur campus in a month.

"We received information about the suicide around 1 pm. Upon reaching the spot, they found the door of her room was locked from inside and broke it open to find her body hanging from the ceiling fan," said Additional DCP (West) Akash Patel.

A forensic team has been called to the spot, Patel added.

Student's hostel mates had informed IIT-Kanpur authorities who later called the police.

Possible reasons behind suicide will only be revealed after a preliminary probe and completing other formalities, the DCP said.

"With profound grief, IIT Kanpur mourns the untimely and unfortunate demise of a PhD student, who joined the Department of Chemical Engineering of the Institute last month (December 2023). She was found dead in her hostel room this afternoon. A police forensic team visited the campus to review the reason for the death. The Institute is awaiting the police investigation to determine the likely cause of the death. With her death, the Institute lost a bright and promising young student," in a statement, IIT-Kanpur said. 

On January 11,  a second-year M.Tech student of the institute, allegedly hanged himself from the ceiling fan in his hostel room, reportedly after being "temporarily" barred from continuing with his course.

On December 19, a postdoctoral researcher hanged herself from the ceiling fan of her second-floor hostel room on the campus.
(With PTI inputs)

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