CHENNAI: The suicide of a first-year student of Indian Institute of Technology, Madras which was being probed by the Kotturpuram police has been transferred to the Central Crime Branch on Thursday.
This comes two days after the victim's parents approached Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan alleging that humiliation and caste discrimination by a faculty member had forced their daughter to take the extreme step.
City police commissioner AK Viswanathan, visited IIT- M on Thursday and conducted inquires for about three hours with the students and the faculty member including the professor, who the parents had mentioned in their complaint alleging that he had humiliated their daughter.
While addressing the media persons, the commissioner said, since the case is sensitive, it is being transferred to CCB headed by the additional commissioner of police Eashwaramoorthy and another senior officer to conduct a detailed and a fair inquiry
"Also, an additional deputy commissioner from the Crime against Child and Woman Wing will be the investigation officer in the case. Once the reason is ruled out and if anybody is found guilty, they will be arrested," he added.
He also said, he cannot reveal details about the case as it is still under investigation. Meanwhile, a screenshot naming the professor from IIT-M and a note to the victim's family is going viral on social networking sites.
The screenshot is being claimed to be a suicide note the family recovered from her phone. On Saturday, Fathima Latheef, a first-year student at the institute, allegedly killed self in her hostel room in the campus.
She hailed from Kerala and was studying a five-year integrated course in the humanities stream. Her parents had on Tuesday named a professor in the humanities department and accused him of being responsible for Fathima taking such an extreme step. They said the professor had humiliated the girl.
Meanwhile, the Kottupuram police, who conducted preliminary investigations, said the girl returned back from pooja holidays recently and has been feeling homesick since then. Another reason could be since she is in the humanities stream a subject 'logistics' seemed to be difficult for the victim.
However, we are conducting a fair probe in the case and we have also sent the phone to the forensic lab for investigation.