A fourth-year mechanical engineering student at IIT Kharagpur was found hanging in his hostel room on Friday morning — the fourth BTech student death on campus in seven months.

Ritam Mondal, 21, a resident of Regent Estate in Calcutta, was found hanging from a ceiling fan in his room at the Rajendra Prasad Hall of Residence.

“The student’s father called a hostel worker around 11am because Ritam was not answering calls. The worker alerted the hostel warden and officials. They rushed to his room on the second floor and found it locked from the inside. They called him, got no response, and broke open the door,” an IIT official said.

Ritam was declared dead at BC Roy Technology Hospital.

IIT Kharagpur director Suman Chakraborty said Ritam shared the room with another student who was away on a project. “Ritam hanged himself when he was alone. I am devastated. The institute has only recently come up with a series of measures to prevent campus deaths,” said Chakraborty, who took charge in mid-June.

Ritam had just returned to campus after the summer break.

A release from IIT Kharagpur on Friday said: “As per the records reviewed from the institute’s SARTH Counselling Centre, there were no prior indications of mental health concerns. The faculty advisor from the department also said there were no apparent academic and non-academic issues that caught their attention.”

It said that the authorities had initiated the filing of an FIR and police had begun an investigation. The institute has constituted a fact-finding committee that will submit a report.

The release added: “IIT Kharagpur is set to launch a new AI driven mental wellness initiative, SETU, on July 25, to enhance proactive mental health support for students.”

On Monday, director Chakraborty had announced a series of measures to prevent deaths on the IIT campus.

Despite these steps, IIT Kharagpur stands accused of lacking a robust mechanism to prevent student deaths. Ritam’s was the fourth death this year.

Shaon Malik, a third-year electrical engineering student from Calcutta, was found hanging at the Azad Hall of Residence on January 12.

Aniket Walkar, a fourth-year BTech student of ocean engineering and naval architecture from Maharashtra, was found hanging at the JC Bose Hall on April 20.

Md. Asif Quamar, a third-year civil engineering student who stayed at the Pundit Madan Mohan Malviya Hall, hanged himself during a video call with a friend on May 4.

On May 9, IIT Kharagpur formed a 10-member committee to examine and prevent campus deaths, after a letter from Aniket’s elder brother Sudeep Walkar to the then acting director Amit Patra.

On Friday, the former student of IIT Guwahati expressed shock. “They are making some efforts, but sadly the efforts are lacking somewhere. It is evident from the rising number of cases,” Sudeep told The Telegraph.

In early May, while hearing a PIL on student deaths in higher education institutions, the Supreme Court referred to Quamar’s death and accused IIT Kharagpur of not lodging an FIR. The institute started doing so only after that.