The director of the National Institute of Technology Durgapur (NIT Durgapur) resigned on Sunday evening following a protest by students over the death of a second-year student.
The second-year student of mechanical engineering was found hanging in his hostel room on Sunday afternoon.
A section of students alleged that when they took him to the health centre on the campus, those running the centre were late in attending to him.
When the student was taken to a private hospital, the doctors declared him “brought dead”.
Hundreds of students later assembled in front of the director’s office alleging that the student could not be saved because of medical negligence.
An official of the institute said director Arvind Choubey sent his resignation letter to the Union ministry of education following the protest. It is not clear whether the ministry has accepted his resignation.
Calls and text messages to the director from the newspaper failed to elicit any response.
S. Rai, the public relations officer of the institute, said the student who was writing the end-semester examinations called his father around 11.30am on Sunday to tell him that he had not written a good paper. Within an hour he was found hanging in his hostel room.
“Students are now agitated. We are trying to calm them,” said Rai.
Some of the protesting students also complained about inadequate medical facilities on the campus.