18-year-old dies by suicide in IIT Bombay, Family claims caste discrimination

The family of an 18-year-old boy named Darshan Solanki, who allegedly committed suicide at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay on February 12 has claimed that the boy was murdered.

On Wednesday, Solanki's family claimed that he faced caste discrimination at IIT B and suspected foul play in Solanki's death.

On Sunday, the 18-year-old allegedly committed suicide at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay in Mumbai by jumping from the 7th building of the hostel.

Powai police registered an Accidental Death Report (ADR) and started further investigation.

Solanki was originally from Ahmedabad and was pursuing B Tech at the IIT Bombay in Mumbai.

As soon as the information about the suicide was received, the police reached the spot and took him to the hospital where the doctors declared him brought dead.

The reason behind the student's suicide is yet to be known and the police are probing the same.

Ramesh Solanki, the father of darshan, said while speaking tothat his son cannot commit suicide.

"He must have been harassed and I think he has been killed. He has fallen from the 7th floor but he is only hurt on the head," he added.

He alleged that darshan had complained about caste discrimination, but no one listened.

Darshan's sister Jahnvi also said that the family is "100 per cent sure that he has been murdered".

"First they told us that darshan's accident had taken place. When our relatives reached Mumbai, they told us that he fell downstairs. And in the third version, they said that he jumped from the 7th floor. How can we believe three different versions," she asked.

"It is possible that the students there have murdered him. The institute said that he jumped from the 7th floor but that is not true. All of his bones were intact. Only his head had a little hurt," she alleged.

She said that there might be a possibility that some students hit him in the head and killed him.

"We are 100 per cent sure he has been murdered," she said while claiming that the police and IIT Bombay management are fabricating a story of a suicide.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday, IIT Bombay issued a statement strongly refuting that the cause of death of the 1st year BTech student was caste discrimination as claimed by several news reports.

"It is wrong to make such accusations when the police are still investigating the case. Based on initial inputs from friends, there is no indication that the student faced any such discrimination. We request that such unfounded allegations not be spread," said the institute in the statement.

( With inputs from ANI )