A fourth-year student of aeronautical engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Madras was found dead in his hostel room here, said police.

The student, identified as Subhranshu Sarkar and hailing from Odisha, was, according to his classmates, in a state of depression for the past couple of days.

Kotturpuram police told the media persons that the student had not come out of his room since Thursday morning and when his friends knocked at his hostel room by evening, there was no response. When the door was broken open, he was found dead in the room.

The Kotturpuram police were called in and they recovered the body and sent it to Royapettah Government hospital for post-mortem. A case has been registered and police investigation has commenced.

IIT- Madras authorities when contacted told IANS that the parents of Subranshu Sarkar have been intimated and that they were on their way to the college campus to retrieve the body.

A fourth year student at IIT-Madras and hailing from Kerala told IANS that the institution has set a high standard for itself in academics and this has led to some students becoming mentally down. (AA/IANS)