Chennai: In separate incidents on Wednesday, two persons - a post-doctoral research scholar and the wife of a faculty member — ended their lives on IIT Madras campus.

One of the deceased has been identified as a 34-year-old-scholar who is married and who took the drastic step in her room in the Sabarmathi hostel on Wednesday afternoon. Her peers subsequently spotted her dead at her accommodation around 4 pm.

The other person has been identified as the 48-year-old wife of a physics professor, who also hanged herself from the ceiling. Her husband who came from work around 3.30 pm found her hanging and alerted the management and the cops.

While the cops were at work in lowering her body and moving it to the Government Royapettah Hospital (GRH), the Kotturupuram police received another call about a suicide from the hostel. Cops, who initially construed it as a factual mistake, asked their party to check on it and the research fellow's body was simultaneously moved to the GRH for post-mortem examinations.

The IIT administration came out with a press statement. “IIT Madras reports with deep sadness, the death of a post-doctoral research scholar in the campus. The scholar's family has been informed. The Institute is taking necessary action and is extending full cooperation to the civil authorities,” the statement read.