A student of the Indian Institute Of Technology - Madras student allegedly died by suicide at his home in Chennai, reported The Times of India.
It is not clear how the research scholar, Sachin Kumar Jain, died but his last WhatsApp update was: “I am sorry, not good. Enough”.
Jain, 23, had gone to attend classes at the institute but returned home midway. He then updated his phone status. Some of his friends who noticed this rushed to his classroom to check on him, according to The Times of India.
This is the third instance of suspected suicide by a student at IIT-Madras this year and the 11th case since 2018, reported The Telegraph. On March 14, a third-year student at the institute had died by suicide. On February 13, a second-year postgraduate student in the Electrical Engineering department was found dead in his room.
On Monday, Minister of State for Education Subhas Sarkar had told the Lok Sabha that 33 students have died by suicide across the IITs since 2018.
“The reasons identified behind such suicides include academic stress, family reasons, personal reasons, mental health issues, etc,” Sarkar had said.
Meanwhile, IIT-Madras said in a statement that it was “deeply anguished” to inform about Jain’s death.
“A student with exemplary academic and research record, it is a big loss to the research community,” it added. “The institute expresses its heartfelt condolences and shares the grief of the friends and family of the deceased student. The institute requests everyone to respect the privacy of the student’s family at this difficult juncture. May the departed soul rest in peace.”
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