IIT Bombay student's death: Abetment to suicide case registered

The Special Investigation Team of the police probing Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay student Darshan Solanki's death on Thursday registered an offence against an unknown person for alleged abetment to suicide, an official said.

The case was registered 47 days after Solanki allegedly ended his life by jumping off a building on the IIT Bombay campus in Powai on February 12.

SIT officials on Thursday night visited Powai Police Station along with Darshan's father Ramesh Solanki, and based on his complaint, the FIR was registered, the police official said.

The complaint had been submitted to Powai Police on March 16, the official added.

"We have registered an offence against unidentified person under section 306 of IPC (Abetment of suicide) and relevant sections of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act," he said.

On Wednesday, Ramesh Solanki had written a letter to Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis and Mumbai police commissioner Vivek Phansalkar, and accused SIT officials of harassing his family over the registration of FIR.

The letter said the family was "completely shocked and disheartened" by the attitude of the police and the members of the SIT who had been "refusing" to register an FIR.

Darshan Solanki, who hailed from Ahmedabad and was a first-year student of the B Tech (Chemical) course, allegedly committed suicide by jumping off the seventh floor of a hostel building located on the campus on February 12 this year.

His family has claimed he faced discrimination at IITB for belonging to a Scheduled Caste community, and also suspected foul play.

However, an inquiry committee set up by the institute ruled out caste-based discrimination and hinted at deteriorating academic performance as a possible cause of suicide.

In his letter, Darshan's father Ramesh Solanki said, "This is to inform you that I along with my family had travelled from Ahmedabad to visit the Powai police station for registration of FIR on the basis of my complaint dated March 16 in the case of my son's death. However, in spite of our requests the Powai police station refused to register the FIR stating that since the SIT has been constituted to investigate the case, they cannot register the FIR and they will forward the complaint to the SIT for necessary action."