New Delhi: The elder brother of Rishikesh Kumar, the 31-year-old student at IIT Delhi who died by suicide on Saturday, alleged that the premier institution’s administration repeatedly denied him hostel accommodation on account of his poor mental health.
“Instead of extending support and help for my brother’s mental health struggles, they tried to wash their hands off of possible responsibility by denying him hostel accomodation,” Abhishek Kumar told ThePrint over a phone call. “They were worried he would do something to himself inside the hostel.”
Kumar, a second-year MSc Physics student from Patna, Bihar, died on 22 August after falling from the sixth floor of the Lecture Hall Complex at IIT Delhi. As per reports, Delhi Police received the call at about 8:33 am. While no suicide note was found, the police are examining Kumar’s phone and counselling records.
Abhishek, 34, claimed that the family has not received a copy of the FIR, the autopsy report, or the CCTV footage of the fall.
Hundreds of IIT Delhi students have been protesting since outside the Lecture Hall Complex with three main demands: “Investigation, resignation, and compensation.”
Students claim that IIT Delhi denied Kumar a research project as well along with hostel accommodation — the primary reasons behind his debilitating mental health.
Since July 2023, eight students have died on the IIT Delhi campus. Now, demonstrators are asking how many more lives must be lost for the administration to create a mental health protocol. Even as the university director responded to the demands via a late-night email Monday, students say they won’t stop fighting until the key demand—the resignation of the dean and associate deans of student welfare—is met.
IIT Delhi has since set up an External Inquiry Committee to investigate the case and the panel will submit their report in two weeks. The institute also committed to reimbursing medical expenses and creating a voluntary contribution fund for Kumar’s family.
They also plan to appoint an external ombudsperson for unresolved grievances and an additional faculty-plus-student mentor system for students with mental health issues who need parental supervision.
‘Who was responsible for his depression?’
Abhishek recalled a recent incident to demonstrate the problems his brother was facing. Earlier this year, the Dean of Social Welfare allegedly told their mother that there was “no provision to keep such children (like Kumar) in IIT.”
Their elderly mother had travelled alone from Bihar and was allegedly made to shuttle between the Director Rangan Banerjee, the Social Welfare Dean Sreedevi Upadhyayula, the Head of the Physics Department and other offices just to get an accomodation. After days of pleading, she requested to avail the guest house or family quarters facility on campus so that she could stay with her son. Abhishek said the request was refused.
“They refused to issue a room despite all their pleas, because he was suffering from depression. Who was responsible for the depression, if not them?” he questioned.
He further alleged that another official at the Dean’s office told their mother, “Can’t you take care of your son?”
Remarks like these, Abhishek added, further distressed Kumar who was already struggling with depression and anxiety.
The family then applied for withdrawal so Kumar could return to class the following semester after recovery. Even after the application was accepted, the distress continued. Abhishek said his brother had begun questioning his self-worth.
“He kept saying things like, ‘for the next year, I won’t get to do anything. My life is useless. I don’t want to live anymore,’” Abhishek recalled his brother as saying.
IIT Delhi, in a statement Tuesday, said Kumar had undergone around a month of in-patient treatment at a specialised facility, chosen by the family, earlier this year after students raised concerns about his mental health after Holi. Back then, he was staying at the students’ hostel. He then withdrew from the second semester to get better.
IIT Delhi said they had also counselled Kumar in July and August this year, after his return for the third semester (July to November), which he also subsequently withdrew from.
Abhishek claimed faculty members offered little support that further demoralised his brother.
“Some of the professors constantly berated him. He was refused a partner in a paired project because they did not find him good enough. He had to constantly prove his capability to the professors,” he alleged.
“Is there no humanity in an institution like IIT Delhi?” Abhishek asked. “If a student is sick, is this how teachers treat him?”
He said classmates were supportive and reassured their mother, but the administration and most faculty were not.
Also Read: IIT Delhi students question ‘pattern of suicides’. Demand resignation, justice for Rishikesh
‘He was so hurt’
After withdrawing from the third semester, Kumar had been staying with his mother in a rented room in Katwaria Sarai in south Delhi, just minutes from IIT Delhi.
“If he just wanted to die by suicide, he could have jumped from the 4th floor where he was staying, or jumped in front of a train, or off a bridge. Why did he choose the sixth floor of the college building? Abhishek asked. “Because he was so hurt with people singling him out because of his mental illness.”
Before joining IIT Delhi in 2025, Kumar had been working as a tutor with Unacademy while preparing for his Master’s degree.
“It was his dream to get into IIT,” Abhishek recalled. “He had been struggling mentally during his preparation, but when he got the admission into his dream college, he seemed satisfied.” He added that his brother wanted to pursue a PhD and go into academia, either as a researcher or a professor.
Now, he is left to deal with the untimely loss of his brother.
“I had to do the last rites of my younger brother with my own hands,” Abhishek said. “Five years ago, I did it to my father, and now, I am giving my younger brother to the flames. Whether I stay dead or alive, it feels the same to me now.”
The students protesting at IIT Delhi demand compensation for the grieving family. However, Abhishek rejected any discussion of money in isolation.
“What will I get from that? Will it bring my brother back? A person’s death… can it be measured with money? Can anyone return a son to a mother? Can anyone return a brother to a brother? Can anyone return a brother to a sister? Has humanity completely died?” he said.
If you are feeling suicidal or depressed, please call a helpline number in your state.
(Edited by Stela Dey)