IIT-Kanpur student found dead, 3rd case in a month

Kanpur, Jan 19: A 29-year-old PhD student at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur, was found dead in her hostel room on Thursday, the police said.

This is the third such incident inside the campus in a month.

According to Kalyanpur Assistant Commissioner of Police, Abhishek Pandey, the student from Jharkhand allegedly ended her life by hanging herself from the ceiling fan in her hostel room.

Police said the incident came to light when the father of the deceased called hostel authorities after repeated calls to his daughter went unanswered.

Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (West), Akash Patel, said they received information about the suicide and on reaching the spot, police found the room door locked from inside. They broke it open and found the student's body in her room.

"A forensic team was sent to the spot. The student's hostelmates had alerted college authorities who later called the police," he added.

The reason behind the suicide is yet to be ascertained, the DCP said.

Police said the body has been sent for post-mortem examination.

According to the institute, the woman had enrolled as a student of the Chemical engineering department on December 29.

In a statement, IIT-Kanpur said: "With profound grief, IIT Kanpur mourns the untimely and unfortunate demise of a PhD student...She was found dead in her hostel room. The institute is awaiting the police investigation to determine the likely cause of the death."

On January 11, a second-year M.Tech student and on December 19, a post-doctoral researcher had died by suicide in the campus of the institute.