IIT Delhi Sets Up Inquiry Panel as Student Protests Over Scholar's Death Enter Day 2

Protests at the IIT Delhi campus entered their second day on Tuesday as students stepped up demands for an independent probe into the death of a 31-year-old MSc Physics scholar, while police registered a case of abetment to suicide.

Tensions remained high across the campus following a late-night agitation on Monday and class boycotts. Demonstrating students took out a march on Tuesday, reiterating demands for a transparent investigation, stronger student representation in the inquiry, and action against administrative officials for alleged lapses.

In response to the unrest, IIT Delhi initiated the formation of a five-member external inquiry committee to examine the circumstances surrounding the death. The panel is expected to include former Uttarakhand DGP and IIT Delhi alumnus Ashok Kumar, head of the psychiatry department at AIIMS Delhi Pratap Sharma, the IIT Delhi registrar, and two student representatives. The committee has been given two weeks to submit its report.

The institute has also proposed appointing an external ombudsperson to resolve student grievances that remain unaddressed through internal channels.

Protesting students renewed their call for the resignation of the associate dean of student welfare and other officials, accusing the administration of attempting to treat the incident in isolation. Students said the institute director had rejected their demand for the officials' resignations.

According to police, a PCR call was received at around 8:33 am on August 22 at Kishangarh police station stating that a student had jumped from a building on the IIT Delhi campus. Police took the injured student from the Lecture Hall Complex to the campus hospital, where he was declared brought dead.

Investigators said the student, who joined the institute in July 2025 and lived in a campus hostel, entered the campus around 8:00 am, took a lift to the sixth floor of the Lecture Hall Complex, and jumped from the front side. A crime team and forensic experts inspected the site, finding no note and no external injury marks other than those caused by the fall. Police are examining the student's mobile phone and obtaining his counselling records from the institute.

IIT Delhi stated that the student was academically bright and had received medical and psychiatric support over several months, including inpatient hospital treatment following concerns raised by peers. His requests to withdraw from the January-May and July-November semesters on medical advice had been approved by the institute.