IIT Kharagpur student found dead in hostel room; 4th death in 7 months

Kolkata/Kharagpur: A 21-year-old IIT Kharagpur fourth-year mechanical engineering student was found hanging in his room at Rajendra Prasad Hall on Friday morning, three days after he had returned to the institute after a two-month summer break. Police have initiated an investigation and the IIT has set up a five-member committee to probe the incident.

This is the fourth unnatural death at the institute in the past seven months and fifth since June 2024.

Ritam Mondal from Kolkata's Regent Park was pursuing a five-year dual-degree programme, and his fourth-year classes had began on Thursday.

Police said the student's body was discovered around 11.20 am by a hostel employee who received a call from Ritam's father, Uttam Mondal. "His father panicked after Ritam did not pick up his calls and contacted a hostel employee to check on his son. It was the hostel employee who found the student hanging and informed the security response team and administration," said a source.

The security response team, medical team, director, senior administrative officials and cops reached the hostel and took the body to BC Roy hospital, where he was declared dead. Ritam's distraught parents reached the institute in the afternoon.

A student at the same hostel said Ritam had returned to his room after dinner on Thursday night and they had not noticed any abnormalities in his behaviour. He shared the hostel room with two other students, one from his own department and the other from chemical engineering, but they had not returned to the institute after the summer break.

Police suspect Ritam died by suicide and preliminary inquiries suggest he may have had a tiff with his family. However, an official statement will only be issued after the autopsy at Midnapore Medical College Hospital on Saturday morning. "The exact cause will be understood only after the autopsy, which will be video-recorded," a district police officer said.

A statement issued by IIT Kharagpur mourning the loss of a student said Ritam was known for his "academic diligence" and "gentle demeanour". As per records with the institute's SARTH counselling centre, there were no indicators of any mental health issue. The faculty adviser of his department also claimed there was no apparent academic and non-academic issue that had caught their attention. Ritam's CGPA was above 8, an official said.

Director Suman Chakraborty said, "It is extremely distressing to lose a student. I have asked the fact-finding committee to provide a concrete and detailed report on the incident and the student after gathering information from the department, hostel, counselling centre and the hospital. The committee will also speak to hostel employees and friends to get information about the student because they often know more about a student informally than the administration." He added that he had spoken to one of Ritam's room mates who returned on Friday morning to find out if anything was bothering him but was told that Ritam did not share his problems with them.

Though Ritam's death initially appears to be unrelated to the institute, Chakraborty said there were lapses in the system that he was trying to address after taking charge as director. "The saddest part is before we could implement the holistic intervention programme for the well-being of students, yet another death has taken place on the campus."

The last unnatural death of a student on the Kharagpur campus was on May 4 when a third-year civil engineering student, Mohammad Asif Qamar, was found hanging in his hostel room. The institute has in recent months introduced a slew of measures, including setting up an experts' panel to look into the cause of the string of suicides on the campus.

**BOX**

Ritam Mondal

21-year-old

Pursuing dual degree at mechanical engineering dept

Known for academic diligence and gentle demeanour

Got CGPA above 8

Had a keen interest in coding, particularly pertaining to Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence

Known to have public speaking skills MSID:: 122767383 413 |