IIT student commits suicide in Kanpur

A "mentally disturbed" first year B Tech student of Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur allegedly committed suicide on Friday inside his hostel room in Kanpur.

Prashant Kumar, a city resident who had taken admission to the electrical engineering course, went to his hostel room in Hall Number 2 at around 12:30 pm and locked it from the inside, IIT assistant registrar K V Satyamoorthy said.

He said some of Prashant's friends broke open the room door when they got no response from him at around 4:30 pm and found him hanging from the ceiling fan, whereupon they informed the police.

No suicide note has been found so far, Satyamoorthy said adding that Prashant was "mentally disturbed" and under medication for the problem.

He said the IIT administration had appointed a senior professor to head a committee to enquire into the incident.

Prashant's father Sunder Lal is a Central government employee with the Ministry of Finance.