IIT Kanpur senior prof, Sameer Khandekar dies of heart attack during lecture

Sameer Khandekar was delivering a lecture at IIT Kanpur auditorium when he complained of chest pain and fell. He was rushed to the hospital but was declared dead. He was 55 and is suvived by his wife, son and parents.

Kanpur:In what could be termed as uncalled for, Sameer Khandekar, a senior professor of IIT Kanpur, succumbed to a heart attack while addressing a programme at the institute's auditorium on Friday.

Khandekar experienced a severe chest pain and started sweating profusely before collapsing on the stage. When the other professors and employees of IIT Kanpur arrived at the hospital with Khandekar, doctors declared him brought dead. It has been learnt that Khandekar (55) was diagnosed with high cholesterol in 2019 and since then has been undergoing treatment.

A popular name in the campus, Khandekar, was the Dean of Student Affairs and was a senior scientist of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at IIT Kanpur. He lived with his family in the IIT Kanpur campus. He is survived by his wife Pradyanya Khandekar, son Pravah Khandekar and parents.

Administrative officers of the institute said that he was completely fit and are in shock after hearing about his sudden death. Former Director Prof. Abhay Karandikar and several senior professors of IIT Kanpur expressed their grief over Khandekar's demise.

Khandekar was also associated with Shiksha Sopan Ashram, which is run by former professor HC Verma near the institute. received a huge applause at a program held here a few days ago for delivering a speech about scientific experiments in an interesting manner.

Khandekar was born on November 10, 1971 in Madhya Pradesh's Jabalpur. He got admission in IIT Kanpur in 2000 and obtained his B.Tech degree from here. After this, he went to Germany and completed his PhD in 2004. On returning, he joined IIT Kanpur as an assistant professor.

In 2009 he became an associate professor and a professor in 2014. In 2020 he became the head of the Mechanical Engineering Department and took over the responsibility of Dean of Student Affairs in 2023.