Mita Mukherejee
The body of a 21-year old BTech student of Indian Institute of Technology ( IIT) Kharagpur was found hanging in his hostel room at the campus on Sunday.
The third-year student identified as Shaon Malik was a student of electrical engineering and was a resident of Kasba area on south Kolkata.
The body of the student who stayed at the Azad Hall hostel was discovered by his parents who had come to meet him during their routine weekend visit to the hostel. His parents knocked on the door repeatedly but their son did not respond, according to sources in the local police.
Later, with the help of some boarders, they broke opened the door when they found the body hanging. Expressing shock over the tragic death of the student, the institute said that Shaon was “academically gifted”, a nine-pointer who regularly participated in various extracurricular activities and an active member of the institute’s dramatic society.
It appearerd from preliminary investigations that the student committed suicide, but a probe has been ordered into the incident gor thorough investigation, the police said. The body was sent for post-mortem. He had last spoken with his mother on Saturday night.
Officials of West Midnapre district visited the campus to probe the death. A case of unnatural death has been started and thorough investigation will be held from all possible angles, the police said.
IIT Kharagpur interim director and the director of IIT BHU (Varanasi) ,Amit Patra told reporters Shaon was loved by all professors but he told nobody about his unhappiness. The institute said the authorities will extend all help to the police.
“The campus is in a shock….Our priority is to extend our condolences and support to Malik’s family and friends,” Patra said. He also said that the institute was committed to the well-being and mental health of all its students.
“We have a range of support services available, including counselling and mental health resources, and we urge students to utilise these services whenever needed,” the institute said in a statement.
In June last year the institute witnessed a similar incident when another student Devika Pillai who came from Kerala was found dead in her hostel premises. The authorities had also described the Kerala girl as an academically gifted student.
A controversy rocked the premier institute campus in October 2022 after an almost decomposed body of a third-year student Faizan Ahmed was found in a hostel. An autopsy found a gunshot injury and a stab wound on his body. Last week, a lab technician was found dead on the campus.
