IIT-Bombay student's death: Family says he faced caste discrimination, might have been murdered

The family of an IIT-Bombay student who died allegedly by suicide has claimed that he faced discrimination at the premier institute for belonging to a Scheduled Caste (SC) community and that there is a strong possibility that he was "murdered".

The Powai-based institute in Mumbai has rejected allegations of bias and has urged students to wait till the police and internal probes are over.

Darshan Solanki (18) died allegedly after jumping off the seventh floor of a hostel building on the Powai campus of the IIT on Sunday. Hailing from Ahmedabad, he was a first-year student of B.Tech (Chemical) course.

His family members, who live in the Maninagar area of Ahmedabad city, claimed that though Darshan faced "discrimination for being a Dalit", he could not have taken his own life.

"I strongly believe that my son was murdered. Hours before his death, he had called us but he talked normally and gave no indication that he was under any tension. However, when he came home during Makar Sankranti, he informed his aunt that other students were keeping their distance from him. They were upset because Darshan made such progress," said his mother Tarlikaben Solanki.

Darshan's father Rameshbhai alleged that the institute as well as hospital authorities had tried to cover up the matter and performed a post-mortem even before he reached Mumbai.

"I do not think that it was a case of suicide. If you fall from the seventh floor, you will sustain many injuries. But, when I saw my son's face after the post-mortem, I did not see any injuries. How is that possible? Moreover, the PM (post-mortem) was done in a haste and that too without our permission. I was allowed to see only his face after the PM," claimed Rameshbhai.

Darshan's sister Jahnvi said the IIT-B management kept changing its stand about the reasons behind her brother's death.

"His body was not shown to my parents, neither before nor after the PM. Earlier, the institute told us that he fell down the stairs. Then, the principal told us that my brother jumped from the building. Do they think we are fools? It seems that my brother was murdered," she said.

His aunt Divyaben said Darshan once told her that other students had started maintaining distance upon learning that he belonged to an SC community.

"In January, he told me that other students were jealous of him. They used to ask Darshan how come you are studying for free while we have to spend a lot of money?'. They used to taunt him and ask him how he secured admission. Darshan was harassed there. But, he could not have taken his life due to such tension. It seems he was first murdered and then thrown from the building," she claimed.

IIT-Bombay on Tuesday rejected charges of caste bias in the institute, saying initial inputs from friends suggested that there was no discrimination, and urged students to wait till police and internal probes were over.

Earlier on Wednesday, Union Minister of State for Social Justice Ramdas Athawale visited IIT-B and demanded a thorough probe into Darshan's death. Athawale said Darshan had called his father on Sunday and informed him that except for one paper, his other first semester exams went well.