IIT-Kharagpur student found hanging in hostel room, probe under way

Kolkata: An undergrad at the Indian Institute of Technology in Kharagpur in Paschim Medinipur district of West Bengal was found dead inside his hostel room – bringing back the focus on a series of such tragic end of the lives of the students at the premier tech schools of the country.

Shaon Malik, a third-year undergraduate student of electrical engineering, was found dead inside the room on Sunday. His parents, who had travelled from Kolkata to Kharagpur, to meet him asked for help from the personnel of the institute when he had not responded to the knocks on his door. When the door was forcibly opened, his body was found hanging inside the room.

His was the first such death in any of the IITs in 2025. The last such death of 2024 was reported from IIT Delhi, where the body of Kumar Yash, a second-year postgraduate student from Deoghar in Jharkhand, had been found hanging from the ceiling fan in his hostel room on October 22.

“With a sense of utter shock, the students, staff and faculty members deeply mourn the sudden loss of Shaon Malik, a third-year student from the Department of Electrical Engineering. He was found dead in Azad Hall of Residence premises on the morning of January 12,” the IIT Kharagpur authorities said in a statement. “Upon discovery of the incident, the campus security and medical teams were immediately alerted...The police are conducting a thorough investigation into the circumstances surrounding Malik's death. The institute is fully cooperating with the authorities,” it added. A post-mortem examination was conducted on the body and local police initiated a probe.

Shaon’s parents did not have an inkling of what was in store when they spoke to him over the phone the previous night, according to a police officer.

Devika Pillai, a fourth-year student of biotechnology and biochemical engineering at the IIT Kharagpur, had died by suicide in June 2024. Three students at the IIT Guwahati and two each at the IIT Delhi and the IIT Kanpur had died by suicide in 2024. Altogether 37 suicides had been reported from 11 IITs between January 2019 and March 2024.

The IIT-Kharagpur authorities on Monday said that it was committed to the well-being and mental health of its students. The institute had a range of support services available, including counselling and mental health resources. It urged students to utilise these services whenever needed, according to the press release issued by the institute.