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Friday, October 21, 2011

125 - ‘Failure in paper drove IIT-K student to suicide’ - Indian Express

Posted: Sat Sep 24 2011, 02:46 hrs
Lucknow:



Depressed at having failed in a paper in his first semester exams drove IIT-Kanpur student Mahtab Ahmed to suicide, police and his father Sheikh Ahmed said on Friday.
 

A BTech first-year student of material science and engineering, Mahtab was found hanging from the ceiling fan of his hostel room on Thursday evening. He left no suicide note but had scribbled a message on the wall which read, “Dear friends, I’m tired of IIT.’’
 

Mahtab’s father Sheikh Ahmed, a police sub-inspector who is in-charge of Makrandpur outpost of City Kotwali police station of Kannauj district, said that Mahtab committed suicide after failing in a paper.
 

Nobody else was responsible for his suicide; he lost courage and ended his life, said Sheikh Ahmed.
 

Kanpur SP (Rural) Arun Kumar Pandey said that no further investigation was required, as the boy had committed suicide.

However, strangely IIT-K Registrar Sanjeev S Kashalkar said they were still not aware of the reason for Mahtab’s suicide.
 

Sheikh Ahmed said Mahtab had called up his mother around noon on Thursday and told her about his poor performance in one of the papers.
 

He said that Mahtab also told his mother that he was feeling depressed for not doing well in the first semester and that he was unable to face his teachers and friends at IIT.
 

Shiekh Ahmed said Mahtab’s mother tried to calm him and told him not to lose heart and prepare for better results next time. She also asked him to call her again in the evening.


Mahtab replied that he would call her after his practical exam in the afternoon, said Ahmed. However, Mahtab did not go for the practical exam and committed suicide.
 

Ahmed said that Mahtab, who was the youngest of his three sons, was brilliant in studies and had done well so far. He had got admission in IIT about four months ago, and had never told them about any problem there.
 

Kashalkar said that the IIT-K faculty encouraged the students to share their problems, but Mahtab did not discuss anything with his teachers or friends.