IIT-Kanpur will soon form a committee to probe the death of one of its students following an uproar among his batch mates. Rakesh Kumar Thakur, who hailed from Bihar's Darbhanga district, died on July 7 at a private clinic in the city where he was admitted four days ago.
Thakur, who was an M.Tech student of mechanical engineering, had been undergoing treatment for some mental problem for past some time and he took admission in the institute in 2009 and was staying in hostel. The probe into the death comes in the wake of protest among the students. "Rakesh's treatment was not done properly and there is something which the institute's authorities are hiding," students claimed.
The relatives of Rakesh have filed a complaint regarding his death at Bihar police station, but neither the IIT authorities nor the DIG Kanpur know anything about it, they alleged.
"If the students think we are hiding something regarding the death of Rakesh, then we soon will form a committee of teachers and doctors of the institute's health centre. When the report will come out, it will be put in front of the students," IIT Registrar, Mr Sanjeev Kashalkar, said.
"Also, we want to clear it that Rakesh died of cardiac arrest and the institute had done good arrangements for his treatment," Kashalkar said.