IIT Madras campus was jolted by yet another death. A 20-year-old undergraduate student of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras allegedly died by suicide in his hostel room on the campus on Friday, April 22. This is the fourth such case in the institute in the last 75 days, reported The New Indian Express.

The deceased was identified as Kedar Suresh, a native of Maharashtra, a second-year undergraduate student in the Chemical Engineering department, said the police.

What had happened?

A senior police officer reportedly said that, "On Friday, Suresh's roommates left for class in the morning, but Suresh stayed back. By afternoon, his friends noticed his absence and reached the hostel room. They found the room locked and there was no response to calls and knocks on the door."

The students then informed the management and broke open the door and found Kedar Suresh. The ambulance crew confirmed the death, said the police. Kotturpuram police registered a case and sent the body to the Royapettah Government Hospital for post-mortem.

The IIT Madras management issued a statement expressing condolences.

Dr Lakshmi Vijaykumar, Founder, The Society For Networking, Empowerment & Holistic Action (SNEHA) brought to attention a behavioral pattern that might have a ripple effect if not addressed properly.

Dr Vijaykumar said, "Copycat behaviour is a serious issue that needs to be addressed. This is called a weather phenomenon or cluster. To prevent suicides, we should analyse why it has happened and tell people who are suicidal or depressed that there are other ways to deal with it. Identify people who are suicidal, acknowledge the issue and suicides can be prevented."

It is never too late to let your close ones know about your problems and deal with them in an effective way.

(Assistance for those having suicidal thoughts is available in TamilNadu's health helpline 104 and Sneha's suicide prevention helpline 044-24640050)