Bengaluru, Aug 18 (PTI) A post-graduate student of the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) here allegedly ended his life over fear that he has contracted coronavirus on Tuesday, police said.

"Sandeep Kumar committed suicide in his room by hanging. He was under depression that he had symptoms of coronavirus," an investigating police officer told PTI.

Also Read | Northeast Frontier Railway Recruitment Process 2020: Eligible Candidates Can Apply For Apprentice Posts on nfr.indianrailways.gov.in.

According to the officer, the M.Tech student from Chhattisgarh had earlier sent text messages about his condition to some of his friends.

The IISc condoled the death of the student and said the mental wellbeing of its students, faculty and staff was of serious concern and it has provided facilities and wellness resources for those in need.

Also Read | New Travel Relaxation: MHA Allows Foreign Journalists to Enter India, Restores Suspended J-1 And J-1X Visas.

"We express our heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of the student, who was pursuing an M.Tech degree at the Department of Computational and Data Sciences," it said in a statement.

The premier science institute added it has provided facilities and wellness resources which include round-the- clock emergency call service for anyone needing to talk to a mental health professional, online counselling and support and one-on-one counselling with counsellors and psychiatrists on campus besides other resources and links hosted by IISc's Wellness Centre.

Karnataka has so far recorded 2.33 lakh positive cases, including 4,062 deaths, and there were 16 infected people dying of "non-COVID reasons", according to the health department.

Of the 16, several people had died of suicide due to depression and fear.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)