MUMBAI: The Mumbai Police Crime Branch investigation into 22-year-old Sahil Wakode, a second-year B.Tech student in the Department of Energy Science and Engineering at IIT Bombay, revealed that he had a confrontation with exam supervisor Suryanarayana Doolla, following which Sahil left the examination hall and later died by suicide.
CCTV footage in the possession of the Mumbai Crime Branch revealed that Sahil Wakode was seen in exam hall between 12.30 and 12.45 pm, just minutes before the paper was to end at 1 pm.
“Footage also shows that the student in question is bending a bit and peeping at something in his pocket. It can also be seen in the footage that the professor Mr Doolla is seen questioning Sahil about the same. He later takes him to the side, away from other students, and confrontation took place between them,” said police.
He said that in footage, it is not clearly seen whether the deceased Sahil had used his mobile and ChatGPT to upload the exam paper to seek the answer. “We are closely watching the CCTV footage and Sen’s the mobile for the forensic audit to connect the series of events,” he added requested anonymity.
“The chats of Sahil has been also checked to see if he had contacted anyone or something that sheds some light on his state of mind,” the officer said.
After the confrontation with Professor Doolla, Sahil went to his room at around 1.25 pm and later he was found hanging in his hostel room on the Powai campus on September 18 evening.
Professor Doolla will be called to record his statement in connection with the deceased.
“Investigators are calling the students and questioning them about what happened between the professor and Sahil Wakode inside the examination hall during the mentioned period. We are asking the students to tell us verbatim what the professor told the student and what transpired between the duo in the few minutes between 12.30 and 12.45 pm,” police said.
Police said that they will reconstruct events of the day related to the exam and Sahil.
Meanwhile, IIT Bombay Forum president Dr Rajkumar Pant has claimed that student Sahil Wakode, who allegedly died by suicide last week, had not approached the institute's SC/ST cell with any complaint in the recent past.
His remarks come following allegations by Wakode's family that he was subjected to systematic institutional harassment and caste-based discrimination.
Deceased Sahil Wakode's uncle alleges that the case of his nephew death should be handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to carry out an impartial and fair probe.
