ROORKEE: A 19-year-old second-year BTech student at IIT-Roorkee was found dead in her hostel room on Tuesday, the third student suspected to have died by suicide at the institute in a year. No suicide note was found, and police have launched an investigation into the cause of the incident.
Anshu Malaiya, a resident of Itarsi in Madhya Pradesh, had been alone in her room at Kasturba Bhavan hostel since Tuesday afternoon. In the evening, a fellow student came to meet her but found the door locked from inside and alerted the authorities.
“Our team reached the spot, broke open the door, and recovered the body. We did not find any suicide note. Her mobile phone and laptop are password-protected, and efforts are being made to unlock them. A forensic team has examined the scene. The body has been handed over to the family after the postmortem,” said inspector Narendra Singh Bisht, in charge of Civil Lines police station.
Police said Anshu had been performing well academically and had cleared all her exams so far. However, the reasons behind her suicide remain unknown. Her family has declined to speak with the media about the incident.
“The institute is fully supportive of the ongoing police investigation and is cooperating with authorities to ascertain the facts,” read a statement issued by IIT-Roorkee on Wednesday. In Feb last year, a third-year BTech student from Hyderabad was found dead in her hostel room. In Dec, a second-year dual-degree student from Rajasthan was also discovered dead in his room.
