AUGUSTO RODRIGUES
SANCOALE/ VERNA/ MAR GAO: Four months after Chief Minister Pramod Sawant constituted the District Lev el Monitoring Committee (DLMC) following the fifth student death in two years at BITS Pilani, Sancoale, the campus has been shaken yet again. Twenty-year-old Vishnavi Jitesh became the sixth student — and the first female student — to die by suicide at the institution, leaving students, parents and local residents stunned beyond description. “The cause of death accord ing to the post-mortem report,” stated Verna Police Inspector Anand Shirodkar, “is asphyxia due to hanging.” According to female stu dents who spoke to this correspondent, the door to Vishnavi’s room had to be broken open at around 9 pm after repeated knocks went unanswered. “After trying to knock at the door, we broke open the door in panic, only to be shocked to see her in that state,” wept a colleague of the deceased. Friends described Vishnavi as warm and generous. “She shared whatever she could with us, and it is only after her passing away that we came to know that she was suffering from depression,” said another colleague, speaking on con dition of anonymity. Police officials reached the spot around 10.30 pm on February 1, 2026. Find ing the door broken open, they conducted a preliminary inquest before shift ing the body to the South Goa District Hospital at around 3.30 am. “We never expected to lose Vishnavi in this way. With the number of deaths on the campus, it now feels scary to walk around alone. As days pass and the number of deaths increase, this place feels worse than a regiment,” said another student struggling to come to terms with the loss of her friend. Vishnavi’s father arrived in Goa on Monday morning. Af ter the autopsy, the body was taken to the airport to catch the 10.30 pm flight to Kochi, where she will be laid to rest. It was her father, according to police, who informed them that his daughter had been suffering from depression. Vishnavi is the second student to have died by suicide after being admitted to the institution while already suffer ing from depression. Rishi Nair, who took his life on Sep tember 20, 2025, was also suffering from depression at the time of admission, police said. While the presence of narcotics was established in the Randox report of Rishi Nair during the autopsy, the viscera of Vishnavi had not been sent for qualitative and quantita tive analysis till press time. The first suicide at BITS Pilani, Goa was reported on De cember 10, 2024, when Om Priyam Singh, a second-year student, died by suicide. The campus was shaken again in March 2025 when A. Desai, a third-year student, took his life. A month later, second-year student Krishna Kasera died by suicide, followed by K Jain, a third-year student, in August 2025. Before the shock could be absorbed, sec ond-year student Rishi Nair did the unthinkable, prompt ing the Chief Minister to constitute the DLMC headed by South Goa Collector Egna Cleetus. Of the six students who resorted to such extreme steps, three were in their second year and the remaining three were in their third year. “The DLMC had advised BITS Pilani to augment their mental health services and make them operational offline as well as online on a 24/7 basis, and they had implement ed the same,” said DLMC chairman Cleetus when asked whether the committee was achieving its goal after the lat est incident. While police are still awaiting the Forensic Science Lab oratory (FSL) reports to ascertain the cause of death of the fourth and fifth students, the Chief Minister of Goa tabled on the floor of the 11th session of the Goa Legislative As sembly that all students had died by suicide due to stress related to studies. O Heraldo now understands that the FSL reports of four students — not two — are yet to be ready (“Govt’s suicide claim hurts parents as FSL reports awaited”, O Heraldo, January 21, 2026). Six deaths at just one of the three BITS Pilani centres in India have left many asking a troubling question: why only Goa? According to an out-of-state academician who requested anonymity, “it could be because Goa does not necessarily get the best students.” “After the entrance exam results, the cream are admit ted to their centre in Rajasthan, the next go to Hyderabad and the rest come to Goa. The syllabus is the same for all, and this could be why those admitted in Goa may be going through the cope syndrome,” the academician explained. “The loss of young life to suicide is not just a personal tragedy; it is a collective failure of our society and support systems. While resources and services are available, we must ask ourselves whether we are truly doing enough to normalise help-seeking and destigmatise conversations around suicidal thoughts. It is equally important to rec ognise the growing epidemic of loneliness among young adults and address it proactively,” said Dr Shilpa R Pandya, consultant psychiatrist at V M Salgaocar Hospital, Chicalim. “Prevention must include creating safe spaces for connec tion and equipping young people with constructive coping mechanisms to navigate emotional distress,” she added. Despite repeated requests, BITS Pilani, Goa did not issue any statement till press time.
