IIT Madras student suicide: External committee formed to look into Sachin Jain’s death

On April, 25, Tuesday, an external committee was formed comprising five members. Here's the list of members
Picture Courtesy: TNIE
Picture Courtesy: TNIE

The death by suicide of 31-year-old doctorate student, Sachin Jain, from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IIT M) had sparked concerns, especially now that fourth student suicide case has been reported in 75 days. 

The students first protested on April 11 and raised questions about the ongoing investigations. The following day on April 12, the students organised yet another protest and demanded stern actions regarding the involvement of the guide in any process related to the inquiry of Sachin’s death.

On April 25, Tuesday, an email was sent to students from the Registrar stating that, "With the approval of the Competent Authority, an Inquiry Committee has been constituted..." A screenshot of the same email was shared with EdexLive. 

"The students who would like to depose before the committee can contact the Member (Research Scholar) and the faculty can contact the Member (Faculty)," stated the email. 

It was also mentioned in the email that the Committee would submit its confidential report to Director of IIT Madras, Prof V Kamakoti.

The email went on to list the members of the inquiry committee which will look into the suicide of PhD Scholar, Sachin Kumar Jain. As per the email, the members of the committee are: 

- G Thilakavathi, a former IPS officer, who will preside as the Chairperson 

- D Sabitha, a former IAS officer and Chief Project Officer at the Tamil Nadu Infrastructure Fund Management Corporation (TNIFMC) as a member 

- Kannegi Packianathan, a former IAS, as the Member Secretary

- Professor Ravindra Gettu, a member of the faculty of the Civil Engineering Department, IIT Madras

- Amal Manoharan, a research scholar from IIT Madras, who will be the representative of the student body.  

Following students' demand that Sachin's PhD guide be restricted from the lab and suspended till the investigation is ongoing. On April 13, the director of IIT Madras, Prof V Kamakoti, sent an email addressing all the students after two days of the protest announcing that Sachin’s guide, Prof Ashis Kumar Sen has been restrained from visiting the lab till the investigation is complete.


It was the allegation of students, and brother of Sachin Kumar Jain, Bhawesh Jain, that it was the inhumane behaviour meted out by the PhD guide that pushed Sachin to take the extreme step. 

On March 31, Sachin Jain was found dead at his residence in Velachery after he put up a WhatsApp status saying, “I am sorry, not good enough.” More recently, a 20-year-old undergraduate student from the Chemical Engineering Department, Kedar Suresh, was found dead in his hostel room on the campus on Friday, April 22. 

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