A student at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (IIT-K) hanged himself on Saturday, apparently upset at his failure to get a job placement. The body of Ganga Patnam Suman was found in his room, but police could not retrieve any suicide note. Suman was from Nellore in Andhra Pradesh.
In a hurriedly convened press conference, IIT’s Deputy director Dr R.K. Thareja and Registrar Sanjeev S. Kashalkar said that Ganga Patnam Suman, a final-year M.Tech
student, was much perturbed over the global recession and his failure to get a placement. He had discussed the problem with his friends and teachers who had tried to convince him that he would soon land a job.
Suman is the seventh IIT-K student to have committed suicide in the last five years. However while those who took the extreme step before him, did for low grades or failed romance, Suman committed suicide for his failure to get a placement, something rare in an IIT.