MUMBAI — A 22-year-old undergraduate student at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay died by suicide in his hostel room on Friday after allegedly being caught using his mobile phone during an examination, police reported on Saturday. The incident marks the third student death by suicide at the premier Powai campus over a span of seven months, reigniting concerns regarding academic distress and mental health support within top technical institutions.
The deceased student was identified as Sahil Ravindra Wakode, a native of Maharashtra’s Yavatmal district enrolled in his second year of the BTech programme in Energy Science and Engineering. According to an institutional statement issued by IIT Bombay, the student was found to have uploaded the exam question paper onto the artificial intelligence platform ChatGPT to generate answers while appearing for a scheduled assessment.
The tragedy came to light when fellow residents noticed an absence of response from his room in Hostel Number 4 on Friday and promptly alerted campus authorities, who subsequently contacted law enforcement. First responders discovered Wakode hanging from a ceiling fan. Officials confirmed that no suicide note was recovered from the room. The Powai police have since registered an accidental death report and transferred the body for a post-mortem examination as investigators continue their inquiry to confirm the circumstances surrounding the incident.
The tragic event follows two other student suicides reported on the Powai campus earlier this year, including the death of a second-year student in February and another 20-year-old second-year engineering student in July at the beginning of the semester. The recurring incidents have drawn renewed scrutiny over institutional counselling frameworks, disciplinary mechanisms, and the acute psychological pressures experienced by students navigating competitive academic environments.
