The alleged suicide of the second-year BTech student at IIT-Bombay will be investigated by the Mumbai crime branch, a demand conceded by the police after a seven-hour standoff with the parents of the deceased at Rajawadi Hospital on Saturday.
Among the demands accepted was the appointment of a committee by the Joint Commissioner of Police to be part of the investigation, opposition to anticipatory bail sought by the accused, challenging court orders favourable to the accused, and a speedy trial in a special court. They have invoked Section 108 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. His mother said she had spoken to him for around 30 minutes on Thursday and he showed no signs of being distressed. His father called him around 5:00pm on Friday but received no response. Then the family received a call from the institute at 8:00pm informing them of his death.
Joint CP Manoj Sharma said he would appoint the committee concerned. The deceased’s family said they had spent time with their son the previous weekend and he appeared relaxed. The parents also told police their son had mentioned caste discrimination and difficulties he was facing on campus.
In the first information report (FIR) filed today, the parents have named former dean of student affairs, Suryanarayan Dulla, the IIT-B’s director, and other senior officials, alleging caste discrimination and undue pressure on their son leading to his death.
This is the third suicide on the IIT-B campus thus year. In Friday’s instance, the deceased, from Yavatmal, had completed his schooling up to Class 10 there before moving to Nagpur to prepare for the JEE. He secured around 90% in the Class 10 and 76% in the Class 12 exams, and had secured a CGPA of 8.5 in his first year at IIT-Bombay.
He loved sports and represented the institute in skating and badminton, according to his family.
The Ambedkar Periyar Phule Study Circle (APPSC), a student body at IIT-Bombay, on Saturday called for an independent and transparent investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of the BTech student, including the functioning of the Disciplinary Advisory Committee and the alleged role of the professor involved. At Rajawadi Hospital in Ghatkopar, the boy’s parents refused to claim their son’s body until arrests were made. For nearly seven hours, senior police officers spoke to them, finally backing down only after securing an assurance on a crime branch investigation. The officers they met were DCP Ganesh Shinde, DCP Dutta Nalawade, Additional Commissioner of Police, Dhananjay Kulkarni, and Joint Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) Manoj Sharma. IIT Bombay will cooperate fully with the authorities. It has also demanded the resignation of the IIT-B director and deans of student and academic affairs.
IIT-B, in a statement, said, “The police have registered a case and the matter is under investigation.
