IIT Bombay Professor Suryanarayanan Doolla has denied allegations of caste-based discrimination and harassment in the death by suicide case of Sahil Wakode, a second-year BTech student enrolled at the institute. During an 8-hour-long interrogation by Mumbai Police’s Crime branch, he told the sleuths that he followed the prescribed procedures issued by the institute.

Professor Doolla, who has landed in a soup following Wakode’s suicide, was questioned by the Crime branch sleuths on the institute’s Powai campus. The investigators examined his account alongside CCTV footage, witness statements and other evidence.

What did Doolla say before the Crime branch?

During the interrogation, Doolla shunned allegations of caste-discrimination or making casteist and humiliating remarks against Wakode. The professor told the cops that he had acted in accordance with the institute’s guidelines and procedures while dealing with Wakode during the events preceding his extreme step. Police are now likely to compare his statement with accounts provided by students, faculty members and other staff as part of the ongoing probe.

On September 18, Wakode was discovered dead in his hostel room, hours after he was caught using a cell phone during a mid-semester examination. CCTV footage was collected from the examination hall, which showed Doolla questioning Wakode after noticing him looking at something in his pocket and asking him to leave the examination hall thereafter.

The police are examining the footage to piece together the sequence of events and what transpired between the professor and the student.

Kin level allegations of caste-based harassment

IIT Bombay said Wakode was caught uploading the picture of the examination question paper on ChatGPT to seek answers, and maintained that no disciplinary action had been taken against him over the incident. Subsequently, Wakode’s parents alleged that he had been reeling under caste-based discrimination on the campus. His father, Ravindra Wakode, named Doolla and others in his complaint, and voiced demands for action against the ones responsible for his son’s death.

Following this, an FIR was registered under charges including abetment to suicide and provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. Later, the case was handed over to the Mumbai Crime Branch for probe.

Probe examining events before Wakode’s death

The Crime branch, after assuming charge of the case, has been questioning students, teachers and institute staff who may possess information about the examination-hall incident and the events that followed. The Crime branch sleuths are also sifting through the CCTV feed and other digital evidence to reconstruct the timeline leading to Wakode’s death.

After allegations emerged against Doolla, he was removed from his administrative position at IIT Bombay and was sent on leave. The institute’s faculty has also seen differing views over the handling of the case, and some of them have called for due process, as well as precautions against premature conclusions. They also emphasised that the student and his family must also be treated fairly.