kolkata jadavpur university provice chancellor professor samantak das was found dead in his residence in south kolkata on wednesday police saidthe body of the 57yearold renowned academician was found hanging from the ceiling with a karate belt tied around his neck in his ranikuthi residence in the afternoondas did not go to the university campus in the morning when the varsity sent a car to pick him up for some work his family members knocked on his closed room and when he did not respond broke it open to find his body hanging from the ceilinghe was taken to a nearby staterun hospital where doctors declared him brought deadthe body has been sent for postmortem examination and further investigation is underway an officer of regent park police station saiddass wife had died by suicide a few years backhe was a popular teacher in comparative literature department and headed it from 200709 he had joined the department in 2005 and had also helmed the school of cultural texts and recordshis tenure as the provc was scheduled to end in septemberstudents and faculty gathered on the campus to mourn the professors deaththe jadavpur university family today lost one of its most important functionaries who had been a prominent face of the varsity when i became the ju vicechancellor in 2015 samantak das was among the few people who had made me very comfortable and helped me get accustomed to life in this university his death is a great loss and has created a void that cannot be filled vc suranjan das told ptiwe are absolutely heartbroken at the untimely demise of professor samantak dashe continues to rest in our hearts we will miss you sir arts faculty students union afsu said in a statementjadavpur university teachers association president partha pratim roy said other professors are shattered by the newsbipasha barua one of his former students said it feels like a personal loss he was the whole of ju for mei am speechless