Kolkata, Feb. 11 -- A female first-year MTech student at Maulana Abul Kalam Azad University of Technology (MAKAUT) died on Monday evening after allegedly falling from the fourth floor of the academic building at the university's Haringhata campus in Nadia.

The student, Sayani Das (23), a resident of Durgapur in West Burdwan, was a student in the department of Microelectronics & VLSI Technology and was taking her second-semester exams that day.

According to university sources, Das lived with her family in rented accommodation near the campus. Her mother had come to pick her up after the exam but when she could not find her, she raised an alarm after waiting for nearly half-an-hour.

A search was launched and Das was discovered lying in a pool of blood behind the academic building.

University officials suspect that Das may have died by suicide after she was caught cheating during the examination.

"Her answer script was confiscated for about 15 minutes but later returned. She completed her exam and submitted her paper around 5 pm. She was found dead at approximately 7:30 pm," said a university official.

Following the incident, students protested, alleging university negligence.

They claimed that despite the campus having two ambulances, neither was available, leaving Das unattended. Students blocked National Highway-12 and closed the university's main gate, demanding accountability. While the road blockade was lifted late at night, the gate remained closed on Tuesday, leading to the cancellation of scheduled exams.

Officiating vice-chancellor Tapas Chakraborty admitted that the university's ambulance driver was not present at the time of the incident.

"We have gathered all information regarding the student from the head of the department. Unfortunately at the time the ambulance driver was not present in the campus and it took nearly 15 minutes till he came back," he said.

The police have registered a case of unnatural death and launched an investigation.

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.