The Congress on Tuesday accused the government of "hiding" data on suicides at IITs and questioned what steps it plans to take to address the crisis faced by marginalised students at the premier institutions.
Congress general secretary (organisation) KC Venugopal shared a media report which claimed that at least 53 students died across the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) between 2020-21 and 2024-25, with more than half of these deaths involving students from Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Other Backward Classes (OBC).
In his post on X, Venugopal said more than half the suicides at India's premier IITs are of students from SC/ST/OBC backgrounds.
It is the most glaring example of how this regime not only perpetuates social injustice, but hides the truth from its own people, Venugopal alleged.
"When I raised this question in Parliament in a question to be tabled on 8th December 2025, the Ministry gave a vague response and evaded disclosing specific numbers," he said.
Now, it has been revealed that the Under Secretary wrote to the IITs on December 1 itself, but the minister deliberately chose to exclude the suicide-related data, Venugopal said.
This shows that their intentions were to lie to the people, to hide the extent of discrimination taking place at elite government institutions, he said.
"When Sahil Wakode's death has shocked the entire nation, hiding such data makes the government complicit in creating the atmosphere that caused Sahil's death," Venugopal said.
"We demand a clear answer from the Modi government on why they hid this data and what they plan to do to address this crisis faced by the marginalized students of our country," he said.
Sahil, a second-year B Tech student in the Department of Energy Science and Engineering, was found hanging in his hostel room on the Powai campus on September 18 evening, hours after being caught allegedly using a mobile phone to access ChatGPT during a mid-semester examination.
Mumbai Police Crime Branch is now analysing CCTV footage from the exam hall and hostel, for a timeline of events leading up to his death.
Sahil's parents claimed that he had told them that he was facing casteist slurs and humiliation at the institute.
Speaking to the media after visiting the Crime Branch office, they demanded a thorough examination of all evidence and action against those found responsible for their son's alleged suicide.
IIT Bombay Faculty Forum president Rajkumar Pant said 22-year-old Sahil had not approached the institute's SC/ST cell with any complaint in the recent past.
The IIT Bombay on Monday removed Suryanarayana Doolla as the dean of Administrative Affairs following protests by students and political activists over Sahil's suicide, which led to a case of abetment and caste discrimination registered against him.
(With inputs from PTI)