Tragic Incidents At IIT Kanpur: Third Student Found Hanging In Hostel Room within A Month

In a distressing incident at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (IIT-Kanpur), a PhD student named Priyanka was discovered hanging from a ceiling fan in her hostel room on Thursday morning. This marks the third such incident at the institute within a month. Priyanka, a research scholar hailing from Dumka in Jharkhand, was found by the hostel manager, Ritu Pandey, after her father, Narendra Jaiswal, raised concerns about his daughter not responding to calls.

Upon reaching Priyanka's hostel room, Pandey encountered a locked door. Faced with no response from inside, she was compelled to break into the room, only to discover the grim scene of Priyanka hanging from a ceiling fan. The authorities were immediately alerted, and both the police and a forensics team swiftly arrived at the scene. The body was recovered and sent for a post-mortem examination.

According to sources within the IIT-Kanpur administration, Priyanka had recently joined the PhD program in chemical engineering on December 29, 2023. The tragic incident prompted the immediate notification of Priyanka's family, who promptly departed for Kanpur.

This unfortunate event follows a similar incident in December, where another research scholar, Pallavi Chilka, was found hanging from a fan in her IIT Kanpur hostel room. Pallavi, pursuing postdoctoral research in the Department of Biological Sciences and Bioengineering, was discovered by cleaning staff after no response to a late afternoon knock on her door. These consecutive incidents raise concerns about the well-being and mental health support within the academic community.