IITian's death: Can't keep an eye on all students, says Dean

Following the death of a student of IIT-Kanpur on January 1 under mysterious circumstances here, a Dean of the premier institute today said the administration "can't keep an eye" on every student.

"There are about 6,300 students at IIT-Kanpur. We can't keep an eye on all of them whether they are in their rooms or moving around on rail tracks," Students Welfare Dean Prof A K Ghosh said.

He said the student's body has been handed over to his parents, after a post-mortem.

The body of G Sai Kumar Reddy (20), a resident of Prakasham district in Andhra Pradesh, was found along the Kanpur-Farrukhabad railway line on January 1.

As per the post-mortem report, he was hit by a heavy object on head, due to which it is assumed that he might have been hit by a train accidentally, Ghosh said, adding he does not believe that Reddy had committed suicide.

Reddy's family believes the student was not under any mental agony or pressure and he has not left any suicide note either, he said.

The police report also says it could be an accidental death, he added.

Asked if it was, indeed, an accident, then why a four-member probe panel has been formed, Ghosh said the committee will find out the truth about the incident.

This is the 10th incident at IIT-Kanpur since 2005 in which a student has died under mysterious circumstances, according to an official of the institute.

According to an RTI reply, eight students have committed suicide at IIT-Kanpur between 2005 and 2010, but the institute never formed a committee to probe the incidents but only constituted fact-finding committees.

The institute said, in its reply to the RTI query, that they can't reveal the findings of the committee to media or public as it was its internal matter.