PhD student at IIT-Kanpur hangs herself in hostel room

PTI, Jan 18, 2024, 4:01 PM IST

A 29-year-old PhD student at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, allegedly ended her life by hanging herself from the ceiling fan of her room here on Thursday, police said.

This was the third case of suicide at the IIT-Kanpur campus in a month. A native of Jharkhand’s Dumka, Priyanka Jaiswal, who was pursuing a PhD in Chemical engineering, got admission to the institute on December 29 last year.

Talking to PTI over the phone, Additional DCP (West) Akash Patel 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.

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.

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.

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