With MakeMyTrip founder as a member, IIMA forms high-powered committee to look into student’s suicide

Three of the members are alumni of IIMA and two of them are part of the Board of Governors (BoG), sources said. The appointment was made by the Chairperson, BoG, Pankaj Patel.

The four members include Deep Kalra, founder and chairman of MakeMyTrip; Ramesh Mangaleswaran, senior partner emeritus with McKinsey & Company; Nayan Parikh, Managing Director of Nayan Parikh & Consultants; and Alka Bharucha, co-founder partner Bharucha & Partners.

The four-member committee held meetings with the 17 faculty members and members of Students Affairs’ Council (SAC) separately on the campus on Thursday evening.

Sources said that during both the meetings that went on for around an hour each, the members enquired about the developments on September 26 and the days leading up to the TRBS event. The members told the council that they were assigned to look into Akshith’s death, the mental health of students, and institutional measures for better management of events so that such an incident is prevented in the future, sources privy to this development told The Indian Express.

As reported by The Indian Express, the 17 senior faculty members had written to BoG chairman Patel on October 17, urging him to constitute an external committee comprising “individuals with unquestionable integrity and relevant expertise to undertake an impartial investigation/inquiry into the circumstances surrounding Akshith’s death”. They stated that “it is not merely a procedural requirement but a moral obligation—to honour Akshith’s memory, safeguard the well-being of our students, and uphold the values of integrity and excellence that define IIMA.”

A similar demand to “constitute an external committee comprised of individuals with unquestionable integrity and relevant expertise to undertake an impartial investigation/inquiry into the circumstances surrounding Akshith’s death” was raised during the September 29 faculty meeting with IIMA Director Bharat Bhasker.

Referring to this faculty meeting, the mail by the faculty members pointed out, “The meeting held on September 29, 2024, provided an open platform for both students and faculty to express their concerns. The students, in particular, voiced their deep anguish, frustration, and disappointment with how the IIMA administration handled the conduct of TRBS. The overwhelming sentiment was that their concerns were not given the attention and care they deserved.”

A similar letter was written by the faculty members a few days later as well.

The demand for constitution of a high-powered committee comprising independent individuals to inquire about the facts and circumstances surrounding Akshith’s death was reiterated and highlighted in the Students’ Affair Council (SAC) letter written to the Director on October 12, as reported by The Indian Express.

Akshith’s body was found in his hostel room on the new campus on the eve of The Red Bricks Summit (TRBS), the institute’s annual management symposium. The event was cancelled after his death. Akshith, 24, was from Warangal in Telangana.

Who are the four members of the high-powered committee:

-Deep Kalra: An alumnus of the 1992 batch of IIMA, he is the founder and chairman of travel website MakeMyTrip. He is also one of the founders of Ashoka University and also its governing body member.

-Ramesh Mangaleswaran: An alumnus of IIMA’s PGP batch of 1993, he is a senior partner emeritus with McKinsey & Company. He is also a member of IIMA Board of Governors.

-Nayan Parikh: An alumnus of IIMA PGP 1981 batch, he is the Managing Director of Nayan Parikh & Consultants. He is active in industry bodies and has been Chairman of various governing and other committees of Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) and Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI).

-Alka Bharucha: Co-founder Partner of Bharucha & Partners, she has been a member of IIMA’s Board of Governors since 2019. Senior advocate Bharucha, with over 30 years of expertise as a transactions lawyer, has advised on mergers and acquisitions, private equity investments, joint ventures, restructuring, banking and structured finance, capital markets, and infrastructure mandates. Besides, she has served as Advocate on Record, Supreme Court of India; Solicitor, High Court, Mumbai; and Solicitor, Supreme Court of England and Wales.

Both Kalra and Mangaleswaran are founders of the IIMA Endowment Fund (IIMAEF) launched by a group of alumni in 2020. It is claimed to be a first-of-its-kind initiative for a B-school in the country. Officially endorsed by the IIMA Board of Governors, the IIMA Endowment Fund is an alumni-initiated action in conjunction with IIMA. “This dedicated initiative aims to elevate and strengthen fundraising and philanthropic efforts at IIMA while giving due recognition to alumni and non-alumni contributors. The core responsibility of the Endowment Fund team extends beyond merely raising funds; it encompasses the strategic management of donor relations, covering both the general and specific purpose contributions to IIMA,” stated the official page on IIMAEF.