A third-year B. Tech Computer Science student of the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati (IITG) was found hanging in his room on Sunday night, the second death by hanging at the premier institute in less than a month and third this year.

The death triggered a protest by students who wanted to know what steps were being taken by the administration to prevent death by suicide, a student said.

A police official told The Telegraph that the deceased, 20-year-old Bimlesh Kumar, hailed from Uttar Pradesh. He was last seen by his friends around 5pm in the Brahmaputra hostel gym.

“There was a call from one of his parents to one of his hostel-mates last night after the deceased had not responded to the call. When the deceased did not open the door to his hostel room, his hostel mates then peered through the ventilator and found him hanging. Hostel authorities were alerted and they broke down the door but it was too late by then,” the official said.

The police were informed around 11.58pm. “We sent the body for post-mortem on Monday morning. We have come to know that the deceased was on anti-depressant medicine for the past three years. We will be talking to his counsellor in this connection but prima facie it is a death by suicide,” the official said.

Police said the father of the deceased reached Guwahati with an acquaintance on Monday morning. He is a CISF personnel and has decided to take the body home for the last rites. “We will be talking to him to know more about him but currently he is not in a position to talk because of this irreparable loss,” another official said

This is the third death by hanging this year, which, those familiar with the IITG environment, said should be a cause of worry to the management and needs a closer look and intervention to prevent a repeat. Students have told a section of reporters that issues related to attendance should be looked into.

On August 9, a 23-year-old second-year M Tech student, also hailing from Uttar Pradesh, was found hanging in her hostel.

On April 10, a 20-year-old first-year B Tech student, Saurab Kumar, from Bihar’s Samastipur district, was similarly found dead by hanging in his hostel room.

IIT Guwahati in a statement said it is “deeply saddened to report the loss of a student of our community” and is “working closely with the police to investigate the circumstances surrounding this tragic event”.

The statement further said, “The well-being of our students is our top priority. We are committed to providing support and resources to help our students navigate the challenges they may face. We encourage our student community to reach out to our support networks....”