Mumbai: Rameshbhai Solanki, 46, is the distraught father seeking justice for his son Darshan, who allegedly ended his life jumping from the seventh floor of his hostel building at the Indian Institute of Technology campus in Powai on February 12.
He is most dissatisfied with the inquiry into the case by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted by the Mumbai police. Solanki, who works as a pipe-fitter in Ahmedabad, spoke exclusively to the Free Press Journal in a telephonic interview.
Read excerpts of the interview here:
FPJ: You have been insisting on the caste angle to the unfortunate death of your son. On what basis are you doing this?
Solanki: In November 2022, Darshan had told Uday Meena, an ex-student belonging to the SC/ST category, about the caste discrimination. Also, Darshan’s hostel room-mate T Bhargav asked for a change of room when he came to know that my son belongs to the scheduled caste. They shared room number 802 in the B wing of the hostel. Bhargav had asked Darshan about his ranking and when he came to know that my son had got admission in the SC quota, his attitude towards him changed. Other students, too, who came to know about Darshan’s caste became cold towards him and turned their face away whenever they bumped into him. All these hurt Darshan very badly. On January 14, Darshan had come home in Ahmedabad and had told my daughter Jhanvi and my sister-in-law Divyaben about caste discrimination he was facing at the campus.
But he told them not to tell me as he knew that I would rush to Mumbai and bring him back to Ahmedabad. Darshan’s Instagram chats with other students also reveal the caste angle. In one of the chats, a student Shyam Rajput asked him about his rank. Hence, I feel strongly that Darshan may have ended his life because of the caste angle, which the police are not inquiring into.
FPJ: Darshan had clearly written that his hostel mate Armaan Iqbal Khatri had killed him. The handwriting expert had also confirmed that the handwriting was also that of Darshan's. This rules out the caste angle since Armaan is a Muslim. Do you like to comment on this?
Solanki: I am not entirely rejecting the claim on the handwriting. It could be Darshan’s. However, Darshan didn’t state the reason for Armaan leading him to suicide. But that does not mean that the caste angle needs to be ruled out completely.
FPJ: A cutter was found in Armaan’s hostel room. Moreover, there are reports that Darshan remarked against Islam which provoked Armaan.
Solanki: I don't know if these remarks are true. How can I comment, The fact is that the Powai police did not find the suicide note, but the SIT did on March 4 and told us about it only on March 14. We had asked the SIT to show us the electronic and other evidence they claim to have found, but it is not conceding our request. Why are they hiding things from us, Why are we not allowed to meet other students, Are they trying to save the IIT management?
FPJ: As you appear to be not satisfied with the SIT investigation, will you demand a CBI inquiry?
Solanki: I will definitely do that. I may even move to courts if my demand for CBI inquiry is not accepted by the government.
