Justice Mukta Gupta to Head Reconstituted IIT-Delhi Probe into Student Suicide
The Indian Institute of Technology Delhi has reconstituted its external probe panel investigating the circumstances surrounding the death of a 31-year-old MSc Physics student, appointing retired Delhi High Court judge Mukta Gupta as its new chairperson, officials confirmed on Thursday.
The restructuring of the committee came after former Uttarakhand Director General of Police Ashok Kumar, who was originally appointed to lead the inquiry, recused himself from the panel citing personal reasons. The change took place as student protests continued on the IIT-Delhi campus for a fourth consecutive day.
Alongside Justice Mukta Gupta, the newly formed external panel includes Dr. Pratap Sharan, Head of the Department of Psychiatry at AIIMS, New Delhi. The committee will also include the IIT-Delhi registrar and two student representatives to examine the incident.
The institute had initially formed a five-member inquiry committee on Tuesday after student unrest over the death prompted the administration to suspend academic classes on Monday.
Police have registered a case of abetment to suicide against unidentified persons in connection with the incident.
According to preliminary inquiry details, the student entered the IIT-Delhi campus through the main gate at around 8 am on August 22. He subsequently went to the Lecture Hall Complex, took an elevator to the sixth floor, and allegedly jumped from the front side of the building.
The student was immediately rushed to the institute's campus hospital, where medical staff declared him brought dead on arrival.
A PCR call regarding the incident was received at the Kishangarh police station around 8:30 am, prompting local police, a crime team, and a forensic science laboratory unit to inspect the campus and collect evidence.
Investigators seized a mobile phone recovered from the student's pocket, which is currently undergoing forensic examination. As part of the ongoing inquiry, police are also gathering the student's counselling records and related academic documents from the institute administration.
