IIT Bombay Student's Suicide: Professor Booked as Father Alleges Caste Abuse

Mumbai Police have registered a case of abetment to suicide against an IIT Bombay professor following the death of a second-year student on the Powai campus, even as the student's family has levelled allegations of sustained caste-based harassment involving senior institute officials.

The case names Professor Suryanarayan Dulla, who also served as an invigilator during the examination in which the student, Sahil Wakode, was found using his mobile phone. Two other accused have been left unidentified in the First Information Report, and the investigation has been handed over to the Mumbai Police Crime Branch.

According to the complaint filed by the student's father, Ravindra Chakradhar Wankhade, the 20-year-old had a smooth first year at the institute after moving from Yavatmal, where he completed his schooling. The problems, the complaint states, began in his second year, when he was allegedly subjected to mental harassment and casteist slurs over a period of about three months.

The complaint names Professor Dulla and alleges that the abuse was carried out at the behest of Director Shireesh B Kedare. It further claims that the student once told his father that the professor had threatened to implicate him in a false case because he belonged to a "lower caste." Wankhade has held the professor responsible for driving his son to take his own life and has demanded action against him and other senior officials.

A case has been registered under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, for abetment to suicide and joint liability, along with provisions of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, relating to intentionally insulting or intimidating a person with intent to humiliate a member of an SC/ST community.

The student's mother also alleged that her son had been harassed. "My son has been killed. He was severely harassed. I want justice," she said.

Sahil Wakode was an MSc second-year student in the Department of Energy Science and Engineering. He was found dead in his hostel room on Friday evening.

According to the institute, he was found using a mobile phone in the examination hall earlier that day and had uploaded the question paper on ChatGPT to seek answers. IIT Bombay has said that no disciplinary action was initiated against him and that the matter was discussed with him by the instructor and the Head of the Department, who counselled him and assured him that the incident would not adversely affect his academic career. The institute said he then returned to his hostel room and was found dead later in the evening, adding that the circumstances surrounding the death are being looked into by the appropriate authorities.

The death is the third by suicide on the IIT Bombay campus in seven months. A second-year student died by suicide in a hostel room in February, and a 20-year-old second-year BTech student died by suicide in July.