The police also recovered a suicide note, which said Abilash was disgruntled with life and committed suicide because he could bear it no more. The note also said he had been considering suicide for quite a while but waited for his brother Abhishek’s wedding.

The note stated that none should be help responsible for his death, and that his brother should be informed. Students here said Abhishek got married on November 4 in Thiruvananthapuram.

According to reports, Abhilash was pursuing his doctorate in Chemistry from IIT-Kanpur and was set to appear for oral defence final interview on November 9, after which he would have received the doctorate degree. It was informed that Abhilash, who was in Germany for post-doctoral research, returned on November 1 for the interview; he was scheduled to fly back on November 11 for further research studies.

Pleading anonymity, a close friend said he met Abhilash at about 8 pm on Sunday and found him under extreme stress. “He did not attend ‘Antaragni’ (IIT-Kanpur’s cultural festival that concluded on Sunday night),” the friend said. “Abhilash did not want to discuss his problem and quietly went to his room.”

Dean of student affairs Prawal Sinha said it was an unfortunate incident but “Abhilash, it seems, had personal reasons for taking the extreme step. So the institute was not responsible in any way”.

Sinha said Abhilash’s father, G J Pillai is at present in Thiruvananthapuram. He added that the post-mortem would be conducted after the family’s arrival here, and the body would be handed over to them afterwards.