Police probing cyber-bullying angle after IIT Kharagpur student falls to death from hostel

The initial investigation found that Nikhil Bhatia had been depressed after he received threats in response to a highly political post he uploaded on his Facebook account.
Image used for representational purpose.
Image used for representational purpose.

KOLKATA: A 23-year-old final-year student of IIT Kharagpur died after falling from the roof of a hostel on campus on Saturday.

Nikhil Bhatia, hailing from Mumbai, was found in a pool of blood in front of Lal Bahadur Hall and was declared dead on arrival at a private hospital in Howrah. He had suffered internal haemorrhage. His body was sent for a post-mortem procedure, the report of which is awaited.

Bhatia’s parents have been informed about the incident. Students of the institute held a candle light vigil on Sunday.

The initial investigation found that Nikhil Bhatia had been depressed after he received threats in response to a highly political post he uploaded on his Facebook account.

"The victim was suffering from depression due to paranoia. He felt that someone is following him all the time. He had undergone psychiatric treatment both at IIT Kharagpur and in Mumbai. However, we are not ruling out any angles including cyber bullying," West Midnapore SP Bharati Ghosh told The New Indian Express.

"Nikhil had posted a political comment on his Facebook post and started receiving threats and abuses. We advised him to delete his account two months ago and create a fresh account, which he did. However, he always felt that he is being stalked. We recommended him counselling and informed his parents. I cannot exactly tell about the content of the post due to police investigation. I am not sure about noticing any behavioural changes in Nikhil," said associate professor Debashis Chakraborty of mining engineering department.

However, bringing the criminals to book would itself be a herculean task. "If the deletion process means erasing of the complete record, then it will be very difficult to be retrieved. Otherwise, there may be some possibilities that the footprint of the record may be available with the Facebook server. But, the cops can't do it alone. It has to be done by Facebook itself," said cyber crime expert Arif Ahmed.

"There always remains a backup of the Facebook profile in the clout servers. The police can only approach the Facebook to retrieve Nikhil's account after securing a court order. Otherwise, it remains strictly confidential," said another cyber crime expert Sandip Sengupta.

On the other hand, police are not sure whether the persons harassing in comments on Nikhil's post would be tried for abbettment to suicide.

According to sources, Nikhil was last seen brushing his teeth at his own hostel Vidyasagar Hall on Saturday morning after which he told his friends that he was to meet a friend at Lal Bahadur Hall.

Nikhil Bhatia is the fourth student to die on the IIT-Kharagpur campus in 2017. The year began with the suicide of Lokesh Meena from Rajasthan on the railway tracks near Kharagpur on January 16. Next, Andhra Pradesh native Sana Sreeraj (20) was found dead on the railway tracks barely 500 m from campus on March 30. His father alleged harassment by fellow students. Twenty days later, Kerala native Nidhin N (22) hanged himself in his hostel room, leaving behind a suicide note with just the words ‘Let me sleep’.

Following the three earlier suicides, IIT Kharagpur authorities planned an innovative way to increase interaction between students by cutting off electricity every evening for one hour. The move was meant to wean away the students from their laptop screens.

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