IIT-Kgp prof found hanging, cops probe suicide angle
Times of India | 30 July 2026
Kharagpur/Kolkata: A professor was found hanging in his quarters at IIT Kharagpur on Wednesday. Deepak Reddy Pullaguram (36) from Hyderabad, an assistant professor at the electrical engineering department, joined the institute in Sept 2022. He was also the warden of J C Bose Hall.
West Midnapore district superintendent of police Papiya Sultana said, “A body was found hanging. It will be sent for a postmortem. We are investigating how and why the death occurred.”
According to cops, the professor used a bedsheet to hang himself from the ceiling fan. He and his wife were separated, and he resided alone on campus.
“A student had gone to the professor’s quarters around noon and found the door unlocked. He walked in to find the body, and immediately alerted the security staff. They informed cops at the Hijli outpost. The police sent the body to B C Roy Hospital, where the doctors declared him dead,” an officer said.
An institute official said, “It is an unfortunate and shocking incident. We are clueless about what prompted him to take such a drastic step. The institute has lodged an FIR. We will be cooperating with the police investigation. Let the police conduct a probe and find out the reasons.”
The institute had witnessed five suicides in 2025 and two in April 2026. Campus sources shared that Pullaguram had good relations with his colleagues and was satisfied with his career progression. “He was a young and bright faculty member. He was academically sound and satisfied with his academic and professional progression at the institute. He was the warden of J C Bose Hall, and was a good teacher and a passionate researcher. Students found him friendly,” a teacher said.
Pullaguram’s research areas focused on modern power systems, including microgrid systems, renewable energy integration, power system dynamics, and optimization techniques. He did his BTech in electrical & electronics engineering from Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Hyderabad; MTech in electrical engineering, power systems from NIT, Warangal, and PhD from IIT Delhi. Among various accolades and awards, he received POWERGRID-IEEE India Council Excellence Young Engineer Award and Indian National Academy of Engineering Young Associate Award in 2024. Before joining IIT Kharagpur, he taught at NIT Warangal as assistant professor from 2019 to 2022, and was also associated with University of Texas, Arlington, as an assistant professor of research.
During the investigation into his death, cops learnt he was scheduled to travel to Delhi that day and had even packed his bags. The cops have sealed the room. No suicide note has been found.
“Once the family members arrive, we will seize his mobile phone, laptop and other items to proceed with the investigation. There were multiple missed calls on his phone, which was lying in the room. We will be able to identify the callers after officially seizing the phone,” said a police source. He added that cops were also trying to get information from the student who found the body but he is traumatised and in a vulnerable state.
Cops said the postmortem will be conducted on Thursday once the family members arrive. Until then, the body has been kept in a mortuary at B C Roy Hospital.