KOLLAM: The Tamil Nadu government has referred the case of IIT-M student Fathima Latheef, who was found dead in her hostel room early last month, to the CBI. Police had initially suspected the 19-year-old, a native of Kollam had committed suicide due to low marks scored in the examination, but family alleged harassment by her professors as the reason.
The decision to hand over the probe to CBI comes 10 days after Fathima’s family met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi, requesting for a fair probe into his daughter’s death.
However, earlier on Friday, the Madras High Court suggested the probe may be transferred to the central agency.
Following her death on November 9, several protests were held within and outside the IIT-M campus. Shah had told the family that two investigations would be ordered --- one related to Fathima’s death and other to reinvestigate all similar cases reported from higher institutions like IITs and IIMs till date.
Fathima’s father Abdul Latheef had also submitted a complaint to the prime minister and home minister along with a petition signed by 37 MPs. The body of Fathima was found hanging from the ceiling fan in her hostel room. While no suicide note was found, a note on her mobile phone mentioned the names of some faculty members who had allegedly driven her to take the extreme step.