Accepting responsibility, the director of IIT-K, Damo-dar Acharya, later submitted his resignation to the Board of Governors of the institute.

Rohit Kumar, a student of third-year electrical engineering, was suffering from a headache since morning. He went to the B C Roy Hospital at the institute for a check-up and was given a few pills. On his way back to the Lala Lajpat Rai Hostel, of which he was a boarder, he fell from the rickshaw. When his friends took him to the hostel, they found him frothing at the mouth. He was again rushed to the hospital.

The doctors said Rohit was having an epilepsy attack and asked his friends to wait. In the meantime, Rohit’s condition deteriorated. The hospital authorities then sent him to Kolkata in an ambulance with two of his friends. On the way, his condition further deteriorated and he started vomiting blood. He was taken to the Midnapore General Hospital where he was declared “dead on arrival”.

At 1.30 pm, over 2,000 students gheraoed Director Damodar Acharya’s bungalow. The strike continued till 8 pm. They also ransacked the bungalow and the vehicles parked there. To pacify the students, Archarya had to sign a letter offering to resign.

B C Roy Hospital, which caters to entire IIT-K, has over 30 beds in four wards - two for students and two for employees. The hospital has seven doctors. “We were not aware of the lack of facilities at the hospital. It did not have a CT scan facility. Moreover, the authorities said there was no neurosurgeon in the hospital,” said a student.

D K Tripathi, Dean of Students Affairs at IIT-K, said: “The student had a history of epilepsy. The hospital authorities had sent him to Apollo Hospitals in Kolkata but he died on the way. Doctors cannot be charged with medical negligence.”

The students, however, rubbished the administration’s claim that Rohit had a history of epilepsy. “He was with us for the last three years. Moreover, at the campus, we have students from his school who insist he did not have epilepsy,” said another student. “He was not given proper treatment even after visiting the hospital twice. This exposes the lack of facilities at the hospital,” added another.

In the evening, hundreds of students took out a candlelight vigil to Rohit’s hostel. According to his friends, Rohit was from Darbhanga in Bihar. His parents have left for Kharagpur on Sunday evening.