Mumbai: Ramesh Solanki, the father of IIT-Bombay student Darshan Solanki who reportedly committed suicide, has alleged in a press note that the angle of caste discrimination against his son has been deliberately side-lined in the investigation by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) which is probing the case.
Solanki has mentioned in his letter to the SIT that his son, a BTech (chemical) student, died by suicide on February 12 after facing severe caste discrimination at the institute. Upon his death, the Powai police registered an accidental death report instead of an FIR despite evidence of caste discrimination.
“Later, with mounting public pressure and a press conference on February 22 by Dr Mungekar demanding an SIT to investigate the matter, the Maharashtra government formed a three-member SIT comprising Lakhmi Gautam, Joint CP (crime); DCP Krishnakant Upadhyaya, ACP Bhosale to investigate the case,” he said in the letter.
He wrote further, “Despite the family going through a great struggle just to get the FIR filed, we are anguished regarding the continuous side-lining of the incidents of caste discrimination."
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According to him, In the second week of April his daughter Janvi stumbled upon Darshan’s social media accounts and came across Darshan’s chat with an account of one 'Sam Rajput' on Instagram.
On February 7, 2023, just a few days before Darshan’s demise, Sam Rajput asked Darshan for his IIT-JEE rank. On learning about Darshan’s Dalit status, he was ostracised on the campus, Solanki alleged.
When the Powai police searched Darshan’s room, they seized all electronic devices (including his mobile phone, laptop and pen drive) along with other items belonging to him.
However, the family has not been provided clone copies of the seized devices even after demanding it repeatedly. The family fears that more such instances can show that he faced caste-based discrimination but will be buried under the guise of investigation.
