KOLKATA: Mystery surrounded two separate cases of unnatural deaths in West Bengal on Thursday, including that of an IIT-Kharagpur student.
A 19-year-old second-year mechanical engineering student, Ankit Sharma, a resident of Rajasthan, died after falling from the fourth floor of the Nalanda Building on the IIT campus around 3 pm.
Ankit was found lying on the ground with profuse bleeding. Security guards on duty at the building took him to BC Roy Hospital on the campus in critical condition, where doctors declared him dead.
Police from the nearby Hijli police outpost under Kharagpur police station rushed to the spot and registered a case of unnatural death. His body was sent to the morgue for post-mortem.
Additional Superintendent of Police Bushara Bano visited the spot and told the media, “An unnatural death has happened inside the campus today. He fell from the fourth floor of the building but exactly what happened has not yet been confirmed. Police are investigating the case.”
In another incident, the body of on-duty nurse Rupali Burman, a resident of East Midnapore, was recovered from a bathroom at the state-run NRS Medical College Hospital in Kolkata on Wednesday night, triggering a police investigation.
Her body was sent to the police morgue at the Medical College Hospital on College Street for post-mortem. At the request of Rupali’s husband, Rahul Das, the post-mortem was conducted at the Medical College Hospital instead of NRS Hospital.
State Health Minister Saradwat Mukherjee and senior police officials visited the spot soon after Rupali’s death was reported. Besides a police investigation, the health department has also formed an inquiry committee to probe the case.
She was found unconscious inside the bathroom at around 10.30 pm on Wednesday. She had joined the night shift around 8 pm and went to the bathroom at around 10.20 pm.
After not finding her for several minutes, her colleagues called out her name but received no response. They, along with a Group D staff member, went to the bathroom, which was locked from inside. They broke open the door and found her lying unconscious. She was taken to the hospital's emergency department for treatment but had died by then.
According to a preliminary police investigation, a needle mark from an injection syringe was found on her left hand.
Police also recovered three vials of fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid roughly 100 times more potent than morphine and used to treat severe pain. One vial had been used, while the remaining two were unused, the preliminary investigation found.
At IIT-Kharagpur, seven unnatural deaths of students have been reported so far. On July 29, the unnatural death of a professor was also reported inside the staff quarters on the campus.
The body of 36-year-old professor Dr Deepak Reddy Pullaguram, a resident of Hyderabad and from the electrical engineering department at IIT-Kharagpur, was found hanging inside a room in the staff quarters.
According to police sources, he lived in staff quarter ‘2 BR-14’ on the campus. Security personnel informed local police after finding his body hanging from the ceiling of his room.
On April 28, Soham Haldar, 22, a fourth-year MTech Electronics and Electrical Communication student, died by suicide on the IIT-Kharagpur campus. Security personnel rushed to the hostel after being informed that his room was locked from inside. They found Soham's body hanging from the ceiling of his room at Madanmohan Malaviya Hostel.
On April 18, Jaiveer Singh Dodia, 21, a third-year mechanical engineering student, died after allegedly jumping from the eighth floor of a hostel building. He hailed from Ahmedabad and lived at Nehru Hall Hostel.
(If you are having suicidal thoughts, or are worried about a friend or need emotional support, someone is always there to listen. Call Tele Manas - 14416 (available 24x7) or iCall, the Tata Institute of Social Sciences helpline - 02225521111, which is available Monday to Saturday from 8 am to 10 pm.)