A fourth-year student of the electronics and electrical communication engineering department was found dead at IIT Kharagpur on Tuesday morning — the second death in 10 days on campus and the eighth since January 2025.

Soham Halder, 21, from Barasat, was found hanging from the ceiling fan of his room at the Madan Mohan Malviya Hall of Residence, police said.

An officer from the local Hijli police outpost who visited the campus said Soham sent a scheduled WhatsApp message — a feature that allows users to schedule texts to be delivered at a pre-set time — to his sister, informing her that he had ended his life. A user must have a business account to send scheduled WhatsApp messages.

“The student hung himself from the ceiling fan in his room at 10.45am. The scheduled WhatsApp message reached his sister five minutes later. She then alerted the IIT administration. Security personnel rushed to his room and found him hanging,” the officer said.

Arun Chakraborty, IIT’s dean of student well-being, said that after the student was brought down, doctors examined him and declared him dead. “I have also heard from the warden of the hall that the deceased sent a message to his sister,” he said.

That two BTech students were found dead on campus within 10 days has triggered alarm among students and families over the absence of a strong institutional mechanism to prevent such incidents.

On April 18, a third-year mechanical engineering student, Jayveersinh Dodiya, 21, is suspected to have jumped to his death from the seventh-floor terrace of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Hall of Residence.

On Tuesday, West Midnapore district superintendent of police Papiya Sultana said they are reviewing CCTV footage as part of the investigation. “The student was found hanging in his room. The cause of death is under investigation. If the family lodges any complaint, we will examine it,” Sultana said.

When asked about the scheduled message sent to his sister, Sultana said: “We are examining his phone.”

IIT Kharagpur director Suman Chakraborty said that although the student was in the fourth year, he had not registered for the seventh and eighth semesters and had not been attending classes.

“We are going through his academic records to understand why he did not register. We will also speak to the faculty adviser about this. The recurrence of death is a matter of concern. I will address students in an open house on April 30,” he said.

“We spoke to his roommate, who said he did not notice any aberration in the behaviour of the deceased student. We need to speak to his parents to understand whether they were aware of why he did not register for the seventh and eighth semesters. Soham had not visited our counselling facility,” he said.

Soham’s death is the eighth in the past 15 months.

On December 8, 2025, IIT research scholar Shravan Kumar, 26, was found unconscious with multiple injuries near the railway tracks close to Kharagpur railway station. He died the same day.

On September 20, first-year PhD scholar Harsh Kumar Pandey, 26, from Ranchi, was found hanging in his hostel room at BR Ambedkar Hall.

On July 18, Ritam Mondal, 21, a fourth-year student, was found hanging in his room at Rajendra Prasad Hall.

Metro reported on April 20 that students had sought an open house with the director to discuss ways to prevent the spate of deaths.