Kalyani, Aug. 8: A senior research fellow of IISER Kolkata allegedly committed suicide inside the campus due to repeated bullying and ragging by a senior scholar with an alleged indulgence by their supervisor for his autistic problems that he had been suffering from childhood. The student, Anamitra Roy, reportedly died after consuming an overdose of neurological medication.
His death has sparked outrage and a police investigation after a suicide note he posted on social media blamed a senior scholar for repeated bullying and his supervisor for ignoring his complaints. The student, who suffered from autism, claimed he was harassed over his condition.
Deceased PhD scholar Anamitra is the son Tapas Kumar Roy, a retired post master. His mother Anjana is a homemaker. Anamitra in his post also accused his parents of mental torture and abuse during childhood.
Roy, a resident of Saheb Bagan in Shyamnagar in North 24 Parganas and a scholar in the Department of Biological Sciences, was discovered unconscious in a campus laboratory by his friends. This was shortly after he posted a lengthy note on Facebook, declaring his intent to take his life “for peace” and naming his alleged tormentors. In the post, Roy accused a senior PhD student, Sourabh Biswas, of persistent harassment and claimed his supervisor, Professor Anindita Bhadra, not only failed to intervene but also shielded the accused despite repeated complaints. He further alleged his complaints to the institute’s anti-ragging committee were ignored.
“I give up. May I find the peace in death that I never found in life… That’s all… Curtains,” he wrote at the end of the note.
Police have initiated a suo moto case of unnatural death. Although the family has not lodged a formal complaint, Anamitra’s sister, Poushali Roy, has publicly blamed the IISER Kolkata administration, the senior student, and the supervisor for her brother’s death. “We have contacted the family based on the social media post. We informed them of the contents and asked if they wished to register a complaint. So far, we have received none, although a woman claiming to be his sister later contacted us for information,” SP of Ranaghat Police District, Aashish Maurya, told NfN.
In his final post, Roy accused Biswas of abuse, stating, “I, alongside many of my colleagues, have been repeatedly abused by Sourabh Biswas, a PhD student in our lab. Repeated complaints to our supervisor, Anindita Bhadra, fell on deaf ears.”
He further detailed his attempts to seek institutional help, writing, “I registered complaints with IISER Kolkata anti-ragging cell both via email and via official portal. They never reached back to me.” He also claimed that while one member of the students’ affairs council was supportive, another told him that he “should have thought about the lab’s reputation before complaining.”
“My supervisor was of a similar opinion as well and only found fault in my behaviour… Today morning started with my supervisor openly praising and celebrating my abuser and his work even though much of his thesis has huge scientific misconduct that my supervisor has ignored at best and lied about at worst. I spoke out and she again chided me for that,” Roy wrote.
Contacted for comment, Professor Anindita Bhadra said, “I cannot speak in detail since the matter is under investigation. He was someone I have known since his first year of BSMS. I was fond of him and can’t believe this still.”
In an unsigned public statement, IISER Kolkata acknowledged the incident and said, “We resolved to examine and improve our systems of checks and balances to ensure that we are able to identify and stop such incidents in the future.” The institute also requested space to grieve and heal, adding that “Anamitra was a dynamic student. His loss is invaluable to the entire scientific community.”
A spokesperson for the institute told The NfN that both internal and external inquiries would be conducted, and a formal probe committee is being constituted.
This is not the first such tragedy at IISER Kolkata. On April 4, 2022, Subhadip Roy, a final-year scholar, was found dead inside the Physics laboratory. His family had also alleged ragging. At the time, several senior professors pointed out systemic failures in addressing personal trauma among students, but no substantial institutional reforms have followed since.
Earlier on May 2, 2017, Sagar Mondal, 19, a second-year student of IISER KOLKATA allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself in a hostel toilet, in the fifth-floor toilet on the campus at Mohanpur. Son of a poor farmer, Sagar was a resident of Haringhata who was allegedly traumatized due to ragging by some senior students.