A team from the psychiatry department of Guwahati Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) will soon visit IIT Guwahati, following the suspected suicide of a student from a four-storey hostel of the institute on Friday, to ascertain the mental health of students.

"The IIT Guwahati had a talk with the GMCH and a team will soon visit the institute to check the mental health of the students," Labanu Konwar, the assistant registrar (public relations) of IIT Guwahati, told The Telegraph on Saturday. "The institute has a team of four counsellors. They have been asked to obtain the mental records of all the students and compile them for the visiting team from GMCH," he added.

On Friday, Ujjwal Shailabh, 24, a final semester student of BTech in mathematics and computing, allegedly committed suicide from the Brahmaputra Hostel of the institute. "Shailabh had contacted the counsellors. He was suffering from depression as his academic scores had dipped since he joined in 2009," a source in the institute said.

Ujjwal's parents arrived here on Saturday from his hometown, Triveniganj, in Supaul district of Bihar by Kamrup Express. They reached Guwahati around 5pm and proceeded to the GMCH where the autopsy began soon after, sources in the institute said. Konwar said such incidents may have a negative impact on the students as mid-semester exams were going on and will continue till Wednesday.

The institute is communicating with the students to instil confidence among them. Its counsellors visited the students of Brahmaputra Hostel and held talks with them. On Friday evening, a condolence meeting, involving students, counsellors and senior administrators of the institute, was held during which the students were encouraged to concentrate on positive recreations to avoid depression, the sources said.

This is the third suspected suicide at IIT Guwahati in the past year. Tushad Yadav, a first-semester electronics and communication student, and Shoaib Ahmed, a second-semester MSc student, were found dead on the campus in September last year and March this year, respectively. While Tushad was suspected to have jumped to his death, Shoaib was found hanging in his hostel room.

The institute increased its number of counsellors from two to four in July this year.

"The number of counsellors was increased during the admission session in July. They visit all the 10 hostels for boys and two hostels for girls on a regular basis," Konwar said.