A 22-year-old student of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur was found dead in his hostel room on Tuesday, marking yet another tragic incident on the campus. The deceased has been identified as Soham Haldar, a student of Electronics and Electrical Communication Engineering.
Soham hailed from Barasat in North 24 Parganas and was residing in the Madan Mohan Malaviya Hall of the institute.
According to sources, the student was found hanging in his room around 11:00 am. He was immediately taken to the institute hospital, where doctors declared him dead. The incident has cast a pall of gloom over the campus.
Police from the Hijli outpost under the Kharagpur Town Police Station have begun an investigation. Superintendent of Police Papiya Sultana said that while the body has been recovered and a probe is underway, no definitive conclusions can be drawn at this stage. She added that preliminary findings suggest the student may have taken an extreme step, and that his last conversation was reportedly with his sister.
The incident comes less than two weeks after another student's death on campus. On April 18, Jaiveer Singh Dodiya, a third-year Mechanical Engineering student from Ahmedabad, was found dead near the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Hall, with police indicating he had fallen from a height.
With the latest case, the number of unnatural deaths at IIT Kharagpur has risen to nine over the past 16 months. Last year alone, seven such deaths were reported, several involving students found hanging in their hostel rooms.
Despite multiple initiatives introduced by Director Suman Chakraborty—including mental health support measures such as the ‘Setu’ app, the ‘Mother Campus’ initiative, and regular student outreach—the recurrence of such incidents has raised serious concerns about student well-being.
Authorities said further details will emerge after the investigation progresses.
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