PhD Scholar At IIT Madras Dies By Suicide, Leaves Message: 'Not Good Enough'

The scholar, Sachin Kumar, had returned home early that day, according to the police, sending a message to his friends that he was not feeling well. Later, he was found dead at his house.

Outlook Web Desk

Updated on: 1 April 2023 8:03 am

IIT Madras, Chennai

A 31-year-old PhD scholar at the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IIT-M) reportedly died by suicide at his rental home in Velachery on Friday. The research scholar, Sachin Kumar, a native of West Bengal, had left a cryptic status on WhatsApp saying, “I am sorry, not good enough”, reported India Today.

He was living in the rented accommodation with two others – Devkush (28) and Devaraj (28) – who were also pursuing their PhD from IIT Madras.

Kumar returned home early that day, The Hindu reported citing a senior police official, sending a message to his friends that he was not feeling well.

When his friends realised after an hour that he was missing when he was not reachable, they went to his house and found him dead, India Today reported.

This is the third reported suicide case at IIT Madras this year. On March 14, V Vaipu Pushpak Sree Sai, 20, a third-year B.Tech student, was found dead in his hostel room, according to a report by ThePrint, just a month after another student, a research scholar named Stephen Sunny died by suicide in his room.

In 2018, a final-year student of IIT Madras allegedly committed suicide by hanging from the ceiling of his room. He was pursuing his B Tech-M Tech (dual degree) Naval architecture programme, police and the institute administration had told Outlook. The institute had mourned the student's death as an "irreparable loss".