MUMBAI: The IIT Bombay’s Board of Governance on Wednesday formed the ten-member high-level panel to examine the circumstances surrounding the death of a 20-year-old second-year B Tech student on the institute campus.
The panel was formed four days after Sahil Wakode's death. The panel has been given a week to submit its findings. Its inquiry will cover the circumstances leading to the incident as well as concerns raised by the student's parents, including their allegations of caste-based remarks.
Prof Ramesh Venkateswaran, chairman of the Board of Governors at IIT-Palakkad, is heading the committee. The panel includes faculty members, students, an administrator, a former vigilance officer, and a psychiatrist.
The deceased student's parent has filed the FIR with the charges of abetment of suicide and caste discrimination against the IIT Bombay Professor Suryanarayan Doolla, who has been accused of harassing the deceased student. The parent also demanded action against the Director of IIT Bombay for not paying attention to their son's complaint against caste-based harassment on campus.
Sahil's parent demanded the immediate arrest of IIT Bombay Director Professor Shirish Kedare and Prof. Doolla. Wakode’s mother claimed her son told them that he was tortured, abused, and humiliated based on his caste.
Deceased student's father, Ravindra, met the Mumbai crime branch and threatened a hunger strike if their demand for the arrest of both the professor of IIT Bombay, Mr Doolla, and Kedare is not met for a fair probe into their son's death case.
The IIT Bombay Professor Suryanarayana Doolla, who is an accused in the alleged suicide of student Sahil Wakode, has been sent on compulsory leave to facilitate an impartial and fair probe into the case.
Earlier, Mr Doolla was removed as the dean of Administrative Affairs following protests over the student’s suicide.
The IIT Bombay faculty members on the committee are Prof K Narayanan of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Prof Sandip Kumar Saha of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, and Prof Deepti Kalsi of the Department of Chemistry. Saha is also the convener of IIT Bombay's SC/ST Students and Staff Cell. Three students are part of the panel as well. They are Aditya Joshi, general secretary of hostel affairs, Dev Arora, overall coordinator of the Student Mentor Programme, and research scholar Devi Lal.
In the Mumbai police crime branch probe, it has been revealed that after returning from the exam hall, the deceased Sahil returned to his hostel room at around 1.30 pm on September 18 and did not come out thereafter. At around 2.30 pm, he called a friend, and that could be his last phone call, as he did not answer subsequent calls.
During the conversation, Sahil reportedly said, “I made a mistake. My earlier Thermodynamics paper did not go well either, and now this has happened.” And his friend reportedly advised him to remain calm, forget the incident, and focus on his next examination.
(If you are having suicidal thoughts, or are worried about a friend or need emotional support, someone is always there to listen. Call Tele Manas - 14416 (available 24x7) or iCall, the Tata Institute of Social Sciences helpline - 02225521111, which is available Monday to Saturday from 8 am to 10 pm.)