The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi has reformed the external investigation panel looking into the circumstances surrounding a student’s death. Retired Delhi High Court judge Mukta Gupta will lead the newly constituted panel, according to official announcements made on Thursday.
The development came after outraged students held protests on campus, prompting the administration to order the suspension of classes on Monday. The institute issued a statement on Thursday saying that it views students’ well-being as a fundamental prerequisite for fostering an ecosystem where every student feels heard and supported. “A new panel has been constituted. Justice Mukta Gupta is the chairperson. The other members include Pratap Sharan, Head of Department of Psychiatry, AIIMS, New Delhi. He allegedly jumped from the front side of the building. A crime team and a forensic science laboratory unit were also called to collect evidence. A mobile phone found in the deceased’s pocket was seized and is being examined. As part of the investigation, police are also obtaining the student’s counselling records and other relevant information from the institute. Weekend exams are minimised, and credit distribution remains flexible. Mentorship and faculty interaction, comprehensive mental healthcare infrastructure, targeted support, multi-channel grievance redressal; diversity, inclusion and bias sensitisation, are among other measures listed by the institute.
IIT-Delhi had on Tuesday set up a five-member committee to investigate the circumstances that led to the death of the 31-year-old MSc Physics student. The student allegedly died by suicide after jumping from a building on the institute’s campus on August 22. On August 22, the student entered the IIT-Delhi campus through the main gate around 8 am and subsequently went to the Lecture Hall Complex, where he took a lift to the sixth floor, according to preliminary inquiry. A PCR call regarding the incident was received around 8.30 am at Kishangarh police station, following which a police team reached the campus. “Since the new curriculum was implemented in 2025, first-semester credit loads have been lightened, life skills courses added, and first-year departmental classes have been capped at 30–60 students with an aim to minimise student stress. Additionally, effective from the academic year 2024–25, the minimum CGPA criteria for the B.Tech. degree were removed,” it said.
The development comes a day after former Uttarakhand DGP Ashok Kumar, who was appointed as chair of the probe panel, recused himself from the committee citing “personal reasons”, even as student protests continued on campus. Besides, two student representatives and the IIT-Delhi registrar will also be part of the external probe panel,” a senior official said. Police have registered a case of abetment to suicide against unidentified persons, officials said.
The student was rushed to the institute’s campus hospital, where he was declared brought dead.
