GUWAHATI:
A faculty member of the Mathematics Department of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Guwahati was found dead inside his residence in North Guwahati on December 9 night.
The deceased has been identified as Dr Sameer Kamal (47) of 92 Saakshara Apartment, Paschim Vihar, Block A3, New Delhi.
“His body was found hanging from a ceiling fan. We have reasons to believe that the man committed suicide three-four days back,” Kamrup superintendent of police Hitesh Chandra Roy told reporters on December 10, adding that the body has been sent for postmortem.
“Yesterday at about 2:30 pm, information was received from IIT that a foul smell was coming from faculty quarters D 022 which was locked. Accordingly, the door lock was opened in presence of the magistrate, officer-in-charge of North Guwahati PS and found Dr Sameer Kamal hanging from a ceiling fan inside the quarter,” a senior police official said.
In an official statement, IIT Guwahati said, “The body of a man was found in one of the residences at IIT Guwahati this evening. It has been identified as a faculty of the institute. The institute is trying to establish contact with the family of the deceased.”
“IIT Guwahati expresses its deepest condolences to the family at this time of profound grief. We will cooperate with the police investigation and will also commission an internal investigation on this matter,” the statement added.
This is the third suicide to have taken place in IIT Guwahati this year.
On October 9, 20-year-old student Gudla Mahesh Sai Raj (fifth-semester B Tech student in computer science and engineering), hailing from Andhra Pradesh, was found hanging in his hostel room.
On September 16, 21-year-old B Tech student Surya Narayan Premkishore (design faculty under a BDes course) was found dead in his hostel room. He was from Kerala.