IIT-Kanpur Student Hangs Herself in Her Hostel Room

Kanpur: In another incident of suicide in less than a month in the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur, a 29-year-old PhD student ended her life by hanging herself in her hostel room. The incident took place on Thursday, when she was found hanging from the ceiling fan of her room. This is reportedly third case of suicide at the campus in a month.

The deceased student has been identified as Priyanka Jaiswal, a native of Jharkhand's Dumka. She got her admission in the month of December last year and was pursuing a PhD in Chemical engineering.

Additional DCP (West) Akash Patel, while talking to new agency PTI, said, they received information about the suicide around 1 pm. Upon reaching the spot, they found the door of Jaiswal's room was locked from inside and broke it open to find her body hanging from the ceiling fan.

Deceased Priyanka Jaiswal got her admission in December last month

A forensic team has been called to the spot, Patel said. Jaiswal's hostel mates had informed IIT-Kanpur authorities who later called the police. Possible reasons behind Jaiswal's suicide will only be revealed after a preliminary probe and completing other formalities, the DCP said.

In a statement, IIT-Kanpur said, "With profound grief, IIT Kanpur mourns the untimely and unfortunate demise of a PhD student Priyanka Jaiswal, who joined the Department of Chemical Engineering of the Institute last month (December 2023). She was found dead in her hostel room this afternoon. " "A police forensic team visited the campus to review the reason for the death. The Institute is awaiting the police investigation to determine the likely cause of the death. With Ms. Priyanka's passing away, the Institute lost a bright and promising young student," it said.

Earlier, on January 11, Vikas Kumar Meena (31), a second-year M.Tech student of the institute, allegedly hanged himself from the ceiling fan in his hostel room, reportedly after being temporarily barred from continuing with his course.

While, on December 19, postdoctoral researcher Pallavi Chilka (34) hanged herself from the ceiling fan of her second-floor hostel room on the campus.