IIT-B student told friend he regretted cheating during exam before death: Cops

The police have so far recorded the statements of more than 25 people, including IIT-Bombay students and hostel staff, said a crime branch officer.

The Mumbai Police’s crime branch, which is investigating the death of a 22-year-old IIT-Bombay student, has found that he spoke to some of his friends, including a female friend, after he was caught copying during an examination on September 18, and expressed regret over the incident, according to officers aware of the developments.

Security outside the IIT-Bombay campus in Powai. (Praful Gangurde/ HT photo)

The police have so far recorded the statements of more than 25 people, including IIT-Bombay students and hostel staff, said a crime branch officer. Some of those whose statements have been recorded were friends of the student who received calls from him after the examination incident.

“He was caught copying around 12.40 pm on September 18 and was found dead in his hostel room later that evening. He spent the intervening period in the hostel and spoke to some of his friends. We have spoken to those people,” the officer said.

Victim expressed ‘regret’ before death

According to the officer, the student spoke to a female friend around 2.30 pm and expressed regret over his performance in the mid-semester examination. “He told her that he had made a mistake and his thermodynamics paper had not gone well, and now this (copying episode) has happened,” said the officer.

The police have sent the student’s iPhone to the Kalina Forensic Science Laboratory for examination and are attempting to access its contents. The police said they may seek assistance from Apple if the forensic laboratory is unable to unlock the device.

“We have also asked WhatsApp to share information related to the account,” the officer said.

Investigators said the digital evidence would help them examine the circumstances surrounding the examination incident as well as allegations made by the student’s family of caste-based harassment.

CCTV footage analysis and professor allegations

The police have also sent CCTV footage from the institute to the Kalina forensic laboratory for analysis and to obtain the requisite certificates under the Information Technology Act, so that the footage can be produced as evidence in court.

The crime branch has not yet recorded the statement of IIT-Bombay professor Suryanarayana Doolla, who has been accused by the student’s family of caste-based harassment. Doolla has been named as an accused in the FIR registered by Powai police on the complaint of the student’s father.

In his statement to the police, the student’s father alleged that when he last met his son, he told him that, over the previous three months, Doolla had been acting at the behest of institute director Shirish Kedare and abusing him over his caste, and that he feared being implicated in a false case.