Security questions on IIT-G as student remains missing for 10 days

Guwahati, May 15 (UNI) A final year student of IIT, Guwahati, remained untraced even after 10 days, raising security concerns in the premier institute of the country.

''The police are investigating but there has been no leads in our knowledge till now,'' an IIT-G official said.

Pramathesh Ramchiary, a student of Computer Science Engineering department who had appeared for his final examinations, has been missing since May 5. However, the matter came to light on May 11 when the student's father approached the IIT-G authorities after failing to contact his son for the past few days.

An FIR was immediately lodged at the Jalukbari police station.

During the course of preliminary investigations, Pramathesh's friends had reported seeing him last on the evening of May 5, leaving the sports complex in the IIT-G campus.

The fact that Pramathesh remained missing six days before the matter was brought to the authorities' notice by his father has raised security questions in the IIT-G.

The official, however, maintained that security could not be blamed as the boys' hostels were single room accommodations and the students spent long hours in the academic complex, which was open 24 hours.

''Students move around in the campus and the academic complex.

Hence, even if a room is locked from outside at night, the other students do not suspect anything amiss,'' he added.

''It could take three-four days before someone would get suspicious of foul play. Moreover, vacations had started and most students were leaving,'' he added.

The official said the students had to sign out before leaving for overnight stay outside the hostel.

He said, ''Of course, the students can leave the campus in shuttle buses and if they don't return for a single night or even two nights, the hostel authorities may be kept in the dark.

''Our students are adults and we treat them as responsible persons. The hostel gates have the signing out registers but it is difficult to maintain such records at the main gate,'' he added.

On the specific case of Pramathesh, the official said since the latter had appeared for the final examinations, he could have preferred to stay back for a while even though the vacations had started.

''Students san stay at the hostel during vacations for a limited period on written permission from the authorities,'' he maintained.

UNI