Hours before planned hunger strike, IIT-B student's parents 'forcibly' taken away from Mumbai

The family later, in a video that has now gone viral, claimed the driver assured them to take them to their house.

The parents of an IIT-Bombay student, who allegedly died by suicide last week, on Wednesday alleged they were forcibly taken out of Mumbai in a private car, hours before they were scheduled to start a hunger strike over the incident.

Police deployment at the IIT Bombay gate on Tuesday. ( Praful Gangurde/HT)

According to a person who was with the protesting family at the IIT-Bombay campus in Powai, they were about to leave the institute in the early hours of the day when a group of men – dressed in plain clothes – arrived and asked them to shift to another vehicle.

This person, who did not wish to be identified, said he wasn’t aware of the men’s identities but joined the family in the vehicle.

In a video that surfaced later, the family claimed the driver assured them to take them to their house in Yavatmal district.

The victim’s father alleged he told the driver that they did not want to return to their house but wanted to remain in Mumbai to continue with their protest. They also asked the driver to stop at one point, in order to use the washroom. It was now that they realised that they had reached Karanja Lad area in Washim district, where they shot the video.

The parents claimed they had taken permission for the hunger strike.

There was no immediate comment from the police at the time of filing this report.

The student was found dead on Friday evening, hours after he was pulled up for using a mobile phone during an examination, the police said.

The students alleged the victim was asked to leave the examination hall and threatened with disciplinary action, including suspension. The institute refuted the charges, and said the student was assured that the incident would not have any adverse impacts on his career.

The parents have sought the arrest of the IIT-Bombay director Shireesh Kedare and Dean of Student Affairs Satyanarayan Dulla. A First Information Report (FIR) has been registered against the institute under section 108 (abetment of suicide) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, and provisions of the Scheduled Caste and the Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.