4 minutes of readingBombayFebruary 4, 2026 22:33 IST
The 21-year-old second-year student (Civil Engineering). Student who died after falling from a hostel building at the IIT Bombay campus on Wednesday, he was doing well academically and was on track with his studies, the institute’s director, Professor Shireesh Kedare, told The Indian Express.
The institute, he added, is shocked by the incident and there is no way of knowing what could have happened “on the spur of the moment.”
Professor Kedare was present at the Rajawadi Hospital mortuary to attend to the grieving family members of student Naman Agarwal.
“In the last semester exam, his score was above 7 CGPA, which is considered a good academic record. I paid a visit to the Civil Engineering department where he was studying. This academic session started only in January and he already presented three laboratory projects which indicate that he was not lagging behind in his academic commitments. It is very unfortunate and there is no way to know what happened at the time,” he said, highlighting that there was no academic pressure.
Police said that as part of the interrogation, they discovered that Agarwal had been seeing a doctor for his mental health. A police officer told The indian express The circumstances behind this will become clear only after the statement of the treating campus doctor is recorded.
Meanwhile, Professor Kedare said IIT Bombay was already taking steps to ensure mental health support is available to students on campus. One such initiative is the introduction of faculty advisors for small groups of students, with the idea that each student has a faculty member with whom they can connect on academic or non-academic matters.
“Just last week we had finalized holding a training workshop next week for faculty advisors with senior professionals from the field of psychology on how to connect with students. I had also prepared a list of probable talking points that faculty advisors can use to engage in conversation with students. Although the original plan was to start with faculty advisors for freshers and then extend it to faculty advisors in senior classes, we have now decided to hold these sessions for everyone at once,” said Professor Kedare.
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He added that the institute recently celebrated a mental toughness week in January. He noted that this is in addition to the ongoing support provided through the Student Wellness Center (SWC) and other initiatives.
Kedare said that while the institute has always been interacting with freshers, it has now started interactive sessions with all existing students, irrespective of course and class.
“Some come to these sessions, others don’t. The idea is to continue with interactions that aim to ensure that students do not feel stress,” he said.
Apart from initiatives aimed at students, Professor Kedare said IIT Bombay was also taking steps to educate parents about mental health and emotional stress. “We organize sessions with parents to help them understand life on campus… We suggest that they talk to students about light-hearted topics and how proud they are of them, instead of questioning grades on every call,” he said.
Meanwhile, a committee set up by the Union Education Ministry in the wake of the death of a student on the IIT Kanpur campus last month may also reach out to IIT Bombay officials in the wake of Wednesday’s tragedy, The Indian Express has learnt.
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“We have already held five online meetings in which we have spoken to institute directors, counselors and deans. We will visit the IIT Kanpur campus too soon. Our recommendations will not be limited to IIT Kanpur but to the entire IIT ecosystem. We will also reach out to IIT Bombay if necessary,” said a committee member, on condition of anonymity.
