Mumbai: Family of IIT-B student who died by suicide demands in-depth probe

A day after the Indian Institute of TechnologyBombay IITB categorically denied that there was any oncampus harassment of the first year B Tech student who died by suicide his family has said that he was constantly harassed by senior students ldquoThis is murder not a suiciderdquo said Ramesh Solanki the father of the firstgeneration Dalit student Darshan who died after allegedly jumping off the seventh floor of a hostel on SundayldquoMy son had even tried complaining to the Ambedkar Periyar Phule Study Circle that he was being ragged by seniors There needs to be an indepth investigation into the matterrdquoNot murder CopsThe Saki Naka police who are investigating the case however told midday that there were eyewitnesses who saw Darshan jump and that they are treating the case as a suicide They however said they would thoroughly probe the reasons behind his decision and take serious action if there is evidence of abetment or castebased harassmentDarshan SolankiThe family had last spoken to Darshan around 1230 pm on Sunday when he called his father He is believed to have killed himself around 130 pmAlso Read Taking my life because of copsrsquo greed Mulund CAldquoLater in the afternoon I received a WhatsApp call and a student told me that Darshan fell down asking us to come to Mumbai immediatelyrdquo Solanki said ldquoI was scared when I got another call with a student telling me to take the first available flight and also to bring my wife along When I reached the campus and saw his body my first suspicion was that someone had killed him and thrown him off the seventh floor He had injuries on the back of his head I demand an indepth investigation into this matterrdquo he addedlsquoHis behaviour changedrsquoSolanki told midday that he could notice changes in Darshanrsquos behaviour after he joined IITB and that he told his sisterinlaw that he was being ragged badly on campusldquoBut he did not share this with me directly If I was told I would have called him back home Even on the day he died his roommates tried to speak to me but they went away on seeing the policemen and college staffrdquo he saidHe added that sometime on Sunday afternoon before his death Darshan had tried calling the study circle to complain about the ragging but the call went unanswered The police are investigating this too the family saidStatements to be recordedThe Assistant Commissioner of Police Saki Naka Bharat Suryavanshi said they have registered an accidental death report and are recording the statements of fellow studentsldquoWe will also record the parentsrsquo statements If they are not in a position to come to the station we will send our team to record their statementsrdquo said SuryavanshiFirst generation studentRamesh Solanki works as a plumber and his wife Tarlika is a domestic worker in Maninagar Ahmedabad according to reportsResidents of Uttam Nagar in the Maninagar area of Ahmedabad Darshanrsquos family said he was always a great student be it at Maninagarrsquos Shardha School where he studied from Class 1 to 9 or later at the Swami Vivekanand College His dream was to complete his studies secure a good job and live in a bungalow with his familyThe family was in fact reluctant to send him to Mumbai but relented on seeing how keen Darshan was to become a chemical engineer from IITBlsquoDirector must resignrsquoThe student body Ambedkar Periyar Phule Study Circle demanded the resignation of the institute director Prof Subhasis Chaudhuri in the light of the familyrsquos allegationldquoData prepared by the SCST Cell points to a lack of institutional support for SCST students at IITBrdquo read the statement ldquoDespite detailed testimonies and data available with the institute the director kept reiterating that there is no discrimination on the campus We demand his resignationrdquoThe student body alleged the IITB administration has not appointed any SCST counsellors even after its complaints and said this shows blatant disregard towards studentsrsquo wellbeing adding that similar reports from the past also be made public