Story perspectives

Education Ministry Places IIIT Ranchi Director on Leave

By Drooid · Oct 14, 2026, 10:43 AM UTC · How we work

Center

Director placed on leave

A first-year student was found hanging from a ceiling fan in his hostel room at the Indian Institute of Information Technology Ranchi on Saturday.
The Ministry of Education placed the institute’s director on 30-day leave as the probe into the death began.
Professor Rajni Abhi, director of Delhi University South Campus, was named chair of the investigation panel.
The institute cancelled its recruitment process for non-teaching posts following the incident.

Right

Rapid panel formation

A first-year student was found hanging from a ceiling fan in his hostel room at the Indian Institute of Information Technology Ranchi on Saturday.
The Ministry of Education swiftly created a three-member panel and announced interim administrative measures to keep the institute running smoothly.
The panel, chaired by Rajni Abbi, South Campus Director of the University of Delhi, will assess basic facilities, counseling, mentoring and grievance-redressal mechanisms.

Blindspot

The Ministry of Education placed the director of the Indian Institute of Information Technology Ranchi on a 30-day leave while a probe into the first-year student’s death is launched, as reported by Center-leaning sources.
Within this story's sources, this angle appears mainly in Center-leaning coverage and receives less attention in Right-leaning coverage.

History

Historical Context

The 2015 suicide of an IIT Delhi first-year student prompted the Ministry of Human Resource Development, UGC and NIMHANS to mandate at least one qualified counselor per 500 students, covering roughly 1.2 million enrollees. That precedent, echoed after the 2019 IIT Madras case, led the Ministry of Education to task Delhi University professor Rajni Abbi with auditing IIIT Ranchi’s counseling and grievance systems.

1 of 4

Director placed on leave

A first-year student was found hanging from a ceiling fan in his hostel room at the Indian Institute of Information Technology Ranchi on Saturday.
The Ministry of Education placed the institute’s director on 30-day leave as the probe into the death began.
Professor Rajni Abhi, director of Delhi University South Campus, was named chair of the investigation panel.
The institute cancelled its recruitment process for non-teaching posts following the incident.

1 / 4