MUMBAI: The Mumbai Police’s crime branch, which is investigating the death of a 22-year-old IIT-Bombay student, has found that he spoke to some of his friends, including a female friend, after he was caught copying during an examination on September 18, and expressed regret over the incident, according to officers aware of the developments.
Some of those whose statements have been recorded were friends of the student who received calls from him after the examination incident. The crime branch has not yet recorded the statement of IIT-Bombay professor Suryanarayana Doolla, who has been accused by the student’s family of caste-based harassment. Doolla has been named as an accused in the FIR registered by Powai police on the complaint of the student’s father. The police are still examining the circumstances surrounding the student’s death, including the events following the exam and the allegations made by his family.
The police have so far recorded the statements of more than 25 people, including IIT-Bombay students and hostel staff, said a crime branch officer. The police have also sent CCTV footage from the institute to the Kalina forensic laboratory for analysis and to obtain the requisite certificates under the Information Technology Act, so that the footage can be produced as evidence in court.
Investigators said the digital evidence would help them examine the circumstances surrounding the examination incident as well as allegations made by the student’s family of caste-based harassment. In his statement to the police, the student’s father alleged that when he last met his son, he told him that, over the previous three months, Doolla had been acting at the behest of institute director Shirish Kedare and abusing him over his caste, and that he feared being implicated in a false case.
