IIT-Madras professor suspended over student suicide

The PhD professor was suspended after the deceased’s brother wrote to the institute blaming the professor for the student’s suicide

Indian Institute of Technology-Madras (IIT-M) has suspended a professor in connection with a PhD student’s alleged suicide on the campus on March 31, people familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.

A PhD student died by suicide in IIT-Madras campus on March 31. (Representative Image)

Following his demise, his older brother had written to the institute blaming his PhD supervisor, Ashish Sen for the death.

“Prof Ashish Sen has been suspended based on the direction of the Board of Governors. Institute is following all due procedures,” the institute’s spokesperson said. IIT-M is yet to respond on when he was suspended and the findings against the professor by a complaints committee.

The deceased student, a PhD research scholar at the mechanical engineering department, was living outside the campus in Velachery in Chennai. According to an alumni, the student’s WhatsApp status, before his suicide, said: “I’m sorry, I’m not good enough”. This was the third suicide in IIT-M since February.

The scholar’s brother in an email to IIT-M’s director V Kamakoti and other faculty saying, “I have a complaint to give to you regarding the death of my brother that happened on 31 March 2023 and demanded action against those responsible.

He attached a six page letter handwritten in Hindi where he says that his brother had been on medication for mental health issues which the supervisor knew and worsened it by adding pressure on him. He had a meeting with his supervisor on March 31 morning, came back home and put up the Whatsapp status “I’m not good enough” before killing himself, he added. “He had informed us that his degree will be delayed because the guide was making him do more work,” he said. He was meant to complete his PhD thesis in three months. He also said that his brother’s access to the lab was restricted.

On the day of his suicide, IIT-M had said that he was a student with an “exemplary academic and research record” and this was “a big loss to the research community.”