IIT Kharagpur Student Dies by Suicide Days Before Campus Mothers Launch
Ritam Mondal, a final-year student, was found dead in a hostel room, raises alarm on campus well-being
Kolkata: A final-year engineering student died by suicide in his hostel room at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in West Bengal, on Friday, ahead of the July 25 launch of ‘Campus Mothers’, an initiative by the authorities for mental support to budding techies there.
This is also the fourth suicide in the last seven months at the same campus. The deceased, Ritam Mondal, 21, was a fourth-year student of mechanical engineering. He was staying at Room No. 203 of Rajendra Prasad Hall at the campus.
The incident came to light at around 11.30 am when Ritam did not respond to repeated knocks of his colleagues. The door of his room was locked from inside. The students then informed the authorities who contacted the Hijli police outpost on the campus.
The cops and the security guards broke open the door and found Ritam dead. While an unnatural death case has been registered, the body was later sent for post-mortem, which will be videographed, a police officer said.
On May 4, a third-year BTech student, Mohammad Asif Qamar from Bihar, was found dead in his room in Madan Mohan Malviya Hall.
On April 20, a 22-year-old final-year student of ocean engineering, Aniket Walker from Maharashtra, was found dead in his room at JC Bose Hall.
On January 12, a third-year electrical engineering student, Shaon Malik, died by suicide in his room. The body was found by his parents during a visit to the campus.
