HYDERABAD: A 26-year-old PhD scholar of the University of Hyderabad (UoH) committed suicide by consuming poison at his hostel on the campus in Gachibowli on Sunday, leading to a four-hour protest by students.

The victim was identified as M Venkatesh alias Venkateshwarulu, 26, from Lingampally village in Ranga Reddy district. The PhD second-year student was carrying out research at the Defence Research and Development Organization — supported Advanced Centre for Research in High Energy Materials on the campus.

Hundreds of students laid siege to the vice-chancellor’s (VC) lodge alleging caste discrimination behind Venkatesh’s death. Students alleged that Venkatesh, a meritorious dalit student who had published three academic research papers, was not assigned a permanent guide by the institute. The stir began at 12.30pm and ended only after the VC, Ramakrishna Ramaswamy, isssued a written statement at 4.30pm.

Ramaswamy admitted that the failure of the varsity academic system caused the deaths of Vekatesh and some other UoH students. “Suicides on the campus are a failure of the system and steps that have been suggested in order to address the serious issues of the students need our immediate attention,” he said.

The VC said a committee would be set up on Monday to probe the death. The panel will submit its report on November 26, he said. “The director of the Centre was in the process of constituting a doctoral committee for Venkatesh and assigning him a guide. His previous research supervisor retired in May and the present director took over in July. Venkatesh’s work seemed to have been going well and his research was published,” the VC said.