Investigate my son’s death as a murder, Darshan Solanki’s father tells Powai police

The family agreed to come on Thursday, and arrived in the afternoon but went to Powai police station first. “They are in the Crime Branch Unit 10 offices in Andheri East, and the SIT has been recording their statement,” said a crime branch official

Mumbai: On Thursday, the father of Darshan Solanki, the first-year BTech student from IIT Bombay who died by suicide on February 12, submitted a complaint at the Powai police station. Ramesh Solanki, who believes that his son’s death was a result of caste discrimination, demanded that an FIR be filed in the matter. However, he was directed to the Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted by the Maharashtra government for the investigation.

Mumbai, India - March 16, 2023: Ramesh Solanki, father of 18-year-old Dalit student Darshan Solanki who died by suicide on February 12 inside IIT-Bombay, seeking justice reaches Powai Police Station to request them to file FIR against unknown person and investigate the matter, at Powai, in Mumbai, India, on Thursday, March 16, 2023. (Photo by Satish Bate/ Hindustan Times) (Satish Bate/HT PHOTO)

Solanki, who is from Ahmedabad, was accompanied by family members, Dalit activists, and members of the political party Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi. They demanded that the case be investigated as a murder.

In the complaint, Solanki said that his son’s death occurred under “suspicious circumstances” and demanded that an FIR be filed under Section 302 and Section 306 of the Indian Penal Code and other relevant penal provisions, including the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. He alleged that the internal investigation by the IIT administration ignored various testimonies talking about caste discrimination, including the one by Darshan’s sister Janhvi, and other SC/ST students, thereby reducing the matter to suicide on account of academic pressure.

Maheshwar Reddy, the deputy commissioner of police who spoke to the Solanki family, said an SIT had been set up in the case. “The application by the parents will be forwarded to the SIT and we will wait for their conclusion,” he said.

From Powai police station, the family went to the SIT office at Marol Maroshi Road and were there till late night. An SIT investigating officer told HT that the parents had, in fact, been contacted by the office on Monday to come to Mumbai to record their statement. The family agreed to come on Thursday, and arrived in the afternoon but went to Powai police station first. “They are in the Crime Branch Unit 10 offices in Andheri East, and the SIT has been recording their statement,” said a crime branch official.

(With inputs from Megha Sood and Manish K Pathak)