IIT Bombay Student Told Parents of Caste Abuse Before Death, Family Seeks Arrest

The parents of Sahil Wakode, the 22-year-old IIT Bombay student found dead in his hostel room on September 18, said on Tuesday that their son had previously told them about caste discrimination by the professor now named in the FIR related to his death.

"My son had earlier communicated about this discrimination, but I told him it's difficult to secure admission in IIT, and told him to bear it," said his father, Ravindra Wakode. He identified Professor Suryanarayana Doolla of the Department of Energy Science and Engineering as the person who subjected his son to caste-based discrimination, and also named institute director Shireesh Kedare as someone who "tortured" Sahil.

Sahil's mother, Sonali Wakode, demanded Doolla's immediate arrest. "We as parents gave mental support to our child. Is that a mistake?" she said.

Doolla was the invigilator during the mid-semester examination in which Sahil was allegedly caught using a mobile phone. The institute initially said he had allegedly uploaded the question paper to ChatGPT to seek answers, and that no disciplinary action had been initiated against him. It later apologised for those statements, saying the details and circumstances preceding his death remained subject to investigation and that it had been inappropriate to characterise them before they were duly established.

The institute's faculty forum has backed Doolla, who has since been removed from the post of Dean (Administrative Affairs). Director Kedare has denied the allegations of caste-based discrimination, and the institute has said Sahil did not file a caste-discrimination complaint with either its SC/ST Cell or the administration.

The Powai Police registered an FIR on the complaint of Sahil's parents under Section 108 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, which deals with abetment of suicide, along with provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, as the student was a Dalit. Police had initially registered an accidental death report because no suicide note was found, and widened the case after the family's complaint.

In his complaint, Ravindra Wakode accused Doolla of making casteist remarks against his son and threatening to implicate him in a case. "Only after the arrests will everything come out," the father said. "My son was a bright student. Cracking the JEE Advanced is not an ordinary achievement... My only demand is that the accused be arrested."

Deputy Commissioner of Police Datta Nalawade said several people, including Doolla, had been named in the complaint and that their roles would be investigated. The case is being investigated by the Mumbai Crime Branch under the supervision of the Assistant Commissioner of Police (Detection), which is expected to summon the professor and other witnesses for questioning.

Sahil's grandmother, Shyamlata Tayade, has demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation inquiry into his death and the strictest punishment for those responsible.

Students protesting on campus have claimed that Sahil was under severe pressure and had faced threats of suspension. His death is the third reported suicide at IIT Bombay in seven months. A second-year student died by suicide in a hostel in February, and a 20-year-old second-year BTech student died by suicide in July. A total of 171 students died by suicide at IITs across the country between 2006 and 2026.