Another BITS Goa student found dead on campus, 5th such case in 10 months

Police also said he was undergoing treatment and had been prescribed antidepressant medications.

“He was found lying on a bed. There are no injury marks on the body. It is not certain if it is a case of suicide. No note has been recovered. As per preliminary probe, the student’s partner died by suicide a few months ago in Hyderabad. The student’s family also moved to Goa some time ago,” said a police officer.

Police said the student took admission at the institute’s Hyderabad campus last year and took a transfer to the Goa campus in 2025, enrolling for an integrated MSc Physics programme.

The incident was reported around noon, following which a team went to the spot. When the student did not answer his parents’ phone call, they alerted hostel authorities.

The incident comes weeks after a 20-year-old student was found dead in his hostel room last month. The college authorities said at the time that the student “passed away in his sleep”.

The campus was in the news in May when, after three cases of suicides were reported since December last year, the institute initiated an internal inquiry.

The institute had announced several measures to streamline academic content, including a revamp of the existing curriculum, expanded counselling services with professional psychologists, a 24×7 helpline, sessions with the faculty to address students’ concerns and weekly psychiatrist consultations. Authorities had announced that students in distress would be given flexibility to take examinations at a later time and new courses on mental and physical wellness and stress management would be included in the revised curriculum.

Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Thursday said a committee has been constituted under the District Collector to conduct an inquiry into the recent incidents. “The committee’s report will be reviewed and subsequently, directives will be issued to prevent such incidents,” said Sawant.

‘Systemic negligence’

Meanwhile, Opposition parties demanded a thorough probe, saying that the incidents were part of a “disturbing pattern of systemic negligence”. The Congress said the repeated incidents “expose a collapse of campus safety, mental-health support, and effective oversight”.

Congress’s Yuri Alemao, the Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, said, “The government must take immediate action to address the alarming rate of student suicides at BITS Pilani, which has witnessed its fifth case in the past two years. As previously emphasised, revisiting the syllabus and engaging with the student community are crucial steps towards addressing this grave issue. However, the police have failed to investigate these cases promptly, and the inquiries are still pending.”

Goa Forward Party chief Vijai Sardesai said, “So many student deaths in just one year expose a shocking failure of crime control, campus safety and mental health support. This is not an ‘incident’, it is a pattern that demands a serious independent investigation. How can young lives be lost inside a premier institute without accountability?”

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