IIT Kharagpur authorities on Monday asked hostel wardens to interact more with students to gauge if any of them is facing mental health issues and needs counselling.

The move came a day after a third-year student, Md Asif Quamar, allegedly hanged himself in his hostel room on the campus. Police said he was on a video call with his friend early on Sunday when he hanged himself from the ceiling fan at Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya Hall of Residence.

An IIT Kharagpur official said three deaths in four months at the institute have left them concerned.

Sources on the campus said the wardens have been told to speak to hall presidents to know of students in distress and requiring help. Hall presidents are chosen from among students.

Each hostel now has a students’ welfare association headed by an assistant warden. The assistant wardens have also been asked to interact with the hall presidents so they can keep tabs on students.

“The campus has 17,000 students, and it is difficult to find out if a particular student is suffering from mental health issues. We are trying to involve more human resources to reach out to as many students as possible. The hall presidents, chosen from among students, are expected to have information about their fellow students in the respective halls,” said the official.

On Monday, teachers were told to treat students sympathetically so they do not feel alienated, and to keep an eye on them.

“If the teachers spot anything unusual in the conduct of the students, they can also alert the administration,” said the official.

Amit Patra, acting director of IIT Kharagpur and also director of IIT BHU (Varanasi), met the students’ representatives and heard what they had to say on the spate of deaths on the campus.

Patra also met the assistant wardens and told them to reach out to students in the hostels.

“We are in the process of constituting a committee that has been tasked with probing the spate of deaths and advising us on measures to contain such cases. In the meantime, we are also speaking to the assistant wardens. We have asked them to develop an SOP on the welfare of students. They have been asked to spot the students encountering difficulties — mental or academic — or anything else, and talk to them. I have also met the hall presidents and asked them to keep an eye on their friends,” Patra said.

Md Nadim Quamar, elder brother of the deceased Asif, said it was not clear to him how his brother died.

“We have been told that he (Asif) had hanged himself during a video call with his woman friend. But the police told us they have not been able to speak to the woman as she has not been taking calls. When we sought her number from IIT’s acting director, he declined to share it, citing that the case was under investigation,” Nadim told Metro.

Nadim took his brother’s body to their ancestral home in Bihar for burial after the post-mortem.

Metro reported on Monday that Asif’s friend called the IIT’s security officer at 2.53am on Sunday and told him “Please help. Mere saamney woh hang kar gaya (He hanged himself in front of me)”.

“If we get the number, we can speak to the woman and find out what happened. We are waiting for the post-mortem report,” Nadim said.

Calls to the West Midnapore district police superintendent, Dhritiman Sarkar, went unanswered on Monday.