Mumbai: A case has been registered against three people, including a professor, in connection with the death of 20-year-old IIT Bombay student Sahil Ravindra Wakode. The case includes allegations of abetment of suicide and provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. Police took the action based on a complaint filed by the student’s father. The investigation has now been handed over to the Mumbai Crime Branch.

Sahil was a second-year student in the Department of Energy Science and Engineering at IIT Bombay.

On September 18, during a mid-semester examination, he was reportedly found with a mobile phone. According to the institute, the student had allegedly uploaded the examination question paper on ChatGPT in an attempt to obtain answers.

IIT Bombay said that following the incident, the student was spoken to at the departmental level and was told that it would not adversely affect his academic career. A few hours later, the student was found dead in his hostel room.

In his complaint, the student’s father alleged that his son had faced caste-based remarks, threats and mental harassment for around three months. Professor Suryanarayan Dulla has been named prominently in the complaint.

Police have invoked relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita along with provisions of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

IIT Bombay administration, however, has denied allegations of caste-based discrimination against the student. The institute’s director said that students’ caste-related information remains confidential and that the allegation of caste-based discrimination was not correct. The institute has also said that the circumstances surrounding the incident are being examined by the concerned authorities.

Following the student’s death, students held protests on the IIT Bombay campus and demanded, among other things, a transparent investigation.

The Crime Branch investigation is now expected to examine the events that took place before the student’s death and the allegations made in the complaint.