A 21-year-old mechanical engineering student at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur in West Bengal was found hanging in his hostel room on Friday morning, with preliminary investigations suggesting death by suicide, police said.

According to police, Ritam Mondal, a fourth-year student, had returned to the institute on Wednesday after spending summer vacation at his Kolkata home.

“Having returned to the campus after the long summer vacation, Mondal had resumed his classes on Thursday. As per the records reviewed from the Institute’s SARTH Counselling Centre, there were no prior indicators of mental health concerns. The faculty advisor from the department also mentioned that there were no apparent academic and non-academic issues that caught their attention,” the IIT-Kharagpur said in a release.

The institute also said that it has initiated the process of filing an FIR.

“The institute is extending full cooperation to facilitate the process. Additionally, the institute has constituted a fact-finding committee to examine the incident further and report at the earliest,” said the release.

Meanwhile, police have also started an investigation into the incident.

This is the fourth unnatural death at IIT-Kharagpur since January this year.

On January 12, third-year electrical engineering student Shaon Malik was found hanging in his hostel room. On April 20, a final-year student of Ocean Engineering, Aniket Walker, was found dead in similar conditions.

On May 4, third-year B-Tech student Mohammad Asif Qamar was found dead in his hostel room.