A four-member team from the Union Ministry of Education on Thursday visited the National Institute of Technology (NIT), Kurukshetra, to probe the four suicide cases that were reported from the institute recently.The team held an interaction with members of the well-being committee, constituted by the NIT on issues related to students after the suicide cases. Later, it met students in hostels.A few days ago, two officials from the ministry had visited the institute and interacted with students and faculty members.An NIT official said, “A team from the ministry visited the institute regarding the four suicide cases. The government is concerned about these incidents and that is the reason why back-to-back visits are being made by officials from the ministry.”Meanwhile, another team of the ministry held a review meeting regarding the administrative issues at the institute. Last month, the ministry had constituted a committee to review the work of the NIT and examine its overall functioning, including governance and academic and administrative work.The committee was constituted after the ministry withdrew the administrative and financial powers from the NIT Director, Dr BV Ramana Reddy.NIT’s in-charge of Public Relations Gian Bhushan said, “The four-member team had come to probe the suicide cases. The meetings with the well-being committee and the students were confidential. The committee will submit its report to the government. Another committee had arrived to review some administrative matters.”Meanwhile, taking suo motu cognisance of the suicide cases, the Haryana Human Rights Commission has initiated an inquiry into the alarming incidents.As per the commission, multiple incidents of student suicides and attempts have occurred within a short span, raising grave concerns regarding student safety, mental well-being and institutional accountability.The full commission — comprising the chairperson, Justice Lalit Batra, and members Kuldip Jain and Deep Bhatia — has expressed serious concern that despite successive incidents, the action taken by the institute appears limited.It has observed that the situation points towards possible deficiencies in mental health support systems, counselling services, monitoring mechanisms and crisis intervention protocols in the institution.The commission has sought detailed reports from the NIT Director, the Deputy Commissioner and the Superintendent of Police.The NIT Director has been asked to submit a detailed report indicating the circumstances leading to the death of the four students, availability and functioning of mental health counselling services at the institute, and mechanisms for identification of students under stress or financial distress.The Deputy Commissioner has been asked to submit a status report regarding the action taken by the district administration in response to the incidents and measures proposed to ensure prevention of such incidents in educational institutions in the district.The SP has been directed to submit a detailed report regarding the status of investigation in the present case as well as earlier cases.Dr Puneet Arora, Assistant Registrar of the commission, said the authorities concerned had been directed to submit their reports at least one week prior to the next date of hearing — May 19.