Protest erupted on the campus of the National Institute of Technology (NIT) in Silchar, Assam after a student died, allegedly by suicide, on Friday evening. The police resorted to lathi-charging to control the mob even as the campus remained on edge and a few vehicles were vandalised by the agitating students.

Third-year electrical engineering student Koj Buker, who hailed from Arunachal Pradesh, was found dead in a hostel room at the institute on Friday evening.

The NIT will soon form a committee to carry out an internal inquiry and submit a report on the matter. Students have, meanwhile, blamed the institute’s administration for the death. “Buker had a backlog of papers because of which he was not allowed to register for the fifth semester examinations. He begged the Dean (Academic) to allow him to register, but he was not allowed,” said a student, alleging that this pushed him to take the extreme step.

Raising the allegation, a large gathering of students surrounded the residence of Dean (Academic) B K Roy on Friday and did not allow the police to recover the body of the deceased youth from the hostel. As tensions ran high, the agitation soon turned violent.

According to the institute’s Director Dilip Kumar Baidya, the administration came to know of the incident at around 5 pm. “Immediately, all faculty members involved in student administration were present there. It was a very sad incident,” Baidya said.

“We informed the SP office and DC office, and they came immediately and took the next step. But in between, the students gheraoed our Dean (Academic) and vandalised his house… In addition to that, some neighbours were also affected. They damaged a few four-wheelers… We had to take some steps to control the huge mob,” he said.

“For hours we tried our best. We consider our students to be our children and we have to take care from our end, but it went totally out of control,” the director added.

Superintendent of Police (Cachar) Numal Mahatta said the police have requested the institute’s administration to carry out its internal inquiry.

Deputy Commissioner (Cachar) Rohan Kumar Jha said the institute will constitute a committee. “It was seen that the behaviour of the students was unruly. Some cars were vandalised, some four or five cars were damaged, of which two belonged to the professor against whom there is an allegation. One car belonged to the registrar and one was a media person’s. For 2-3 hours we tried to negotiate with them (the protesting students).”

“A committee will be formed by the NIT and its findings will show where the system failed and led to a student’s suicide. But the way the students showed their anger was completely illegal,” Jha said.