The Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Kolkata will form a new anti-ragging cell with student representatives, disbanding the existing one, in the wake of the death of PhD student Anamitra Roy.

The 24-year-old life science researcher from the Haringhata campus in West Bengal’s Nadia district died at AIIMS Kalyani on Friday morning, hours after falling ill on the institute premises.

Police said a preliminary report from the hospital indicated drug overdose as a possible factor leading to his death.

The autonomous institute under the Union ministry of education has set up a fact-finding committee to investigate the circumstances and is constituting a special investigation team comprising several faculty members to expedite the internal probe.

Dean of Students Ayan Banerjee resigned from his post on Sunday, though no reason was cited, a source said. A prayer meeting was held on the campus in Roy’s memory.

Some of Roy’s friends claimed he had a heated argument with a research colleague at the institute’s laboratory hours before being taken to hospital on Thursday night.

“We are exploring all angles. We will cooperate with the police, but nothing else can be revealed now for the sake of the inquiry,” an IISER spokesperson said.

Roy’s cousin, Hrisikesh Roy, alleged that the researcher had been harassed by two persons from his research team and had been under extreme mental stress.

Based on social media posts by Roy in which he complained of mental harassment, the family filed an FIR at Haringhata Police Station naming a guide and a batchmate as responsible for his death.

He had alleged that emails to the internal complaints committee had elicited no response. The IISER spokesperson said the allegations were being addressed.

In April 2022, IISER PhD student Subhadip Roy’s body was found hanging, with the student blaming a research guide in a note.

The institute maintains that it has a 24x7 counselling cell and zero tolerance for ragging.

Roy, a senior research fellow, had earlier participated as first author in a groundbreaking study on dog behaviour, revealing that street dogs have a striking preference for the colour yellow, sometimes even over food. The findings were reported by The Telegraph on February 3 this year.

Peers and teachers called him a “brilliant young mind” and “splendid human being”. One of his teachers said, “His passing is a great loss, not only for the IISER but also the scientific community, because of what he could have gone on to achieve.”

Police are likely to question senior research scholar Sourabh Biswas, whom Roy accused of bullying and ragging him for his autism, and their common supervisor Anindita Bhadra, whom he alleged had ignored his complaints.

Bhadra had supervised the dog behaviour study. While some students have praised her as a “mother figure” and some teachers fear Biswas is being unfairly tainted, others suggest the issue may have been an intra-lab dispute.

Banerjee, who also served as chief of the anti-ragging committee, was named in Roy’s Facebook post for allegedly sitting over his complaints. His resignation is yet to be accepted.

(With inputs from PTI)