Lucknow student found dead at BITS Goa hostel, third suspected suicide since December

Police

A 20-year-old student at BITS Pilani’s Goa campus was found dead in his hostel room on Thursday morning, in what police suspect to be a case of suicide. The incident, reported around 10.15 am, marks the third such tragedy at the Zuarinagar campus in the past five months, raising urgent questions about student well-being at one of India’s most prestigious engineering institutions.

The student, identified as Krishna Kasera from Lucknow, was pursuing a dual-degree programme. According to police, the door to his hostel room was locked from the inside. When he failed to respond, fellow students alerted college authorities, who then unlocked the door and discovered his body. No suicide note was recovered at the scene. The student’s family has since arrived in Goa and a post-mortem examination is scheduled for Friday.

A police officer was quoted by The Indian Express, “Prima facie, it is a case of suicide. No note has been recovered.” The campus’s public relations unit has not responded to requests for comment on the incident.

This latest death follows two similar incidents at the Goa campus. On March 4, another 20-year-old student from the 2022 batch, Atharva Desai, was found dead in his hostel room.

In December last year, a student from Ghaziabad, also aged 20 and enrolled in a dual-degree programme, died by suicide on the day of an exam. In both cases, the rooms were locked from the inside and fellow students raised the alarm when their peers did not respond.

The recent spate of suicides has left students and parents deeply unsettled. Social media platforms have seen an outpouring of grief and concern from the student community, with many calling for more robust support mechanisms and greater administrative accountability.