HYDERABAD: A day after K Kiran Chandra, a fourth-year student at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur, was found dead in his hostel room, his parents blamed the institute’s faculty responsible for their son’s apparent suicide.
Speaking to the media, his father questioned the intense academic pressure faced by students at IITs. He expressed his concerns over the faculty’s role in the tragedy, alleging that his son was compelled to take such a drastic step due to “unbearable” pressure exerted by a section of the faculty.
According to him, Kiran was under tremendous stress to complete a project within a specified timeframe, and he believes that the institute authorities should have intervened or informed them if their son was struggling academically.
“Kiran was a bright student who consistently secured good grades,” his uncle said. However, things took a devastating turn when a project submitted by Kiran was rejected by a professor, leading to a rift between the two.
His uncle added, “He worked diligently on the project and even invested his own money, but the professor was dissatisfied. Kiran was accused of not meeting deadlines, and the professor appeared unresponsive to our concerns.”