Hyderabad: Ravindra Wakode, father of IIT-Bombay second-year student Sahil Wakode, who died by suicide on September 18, plans to approach the Bombay High Court seeking a fair investigation into his son’s death.
The police have registered a case of abetment to suicide against professor Suryanarayana Doolla. Sahil’s parents are also seeking a change in the investigating officer, alleging that the probe has made little progress despite the case being transferred to the crime branch.
Speaking to media personnel, Wakode said the transfer to the crime branch had been made in response to the family’s demand, but they had received no updates even after a month.
“The case was transferred to the crime branch, as per our demand, but we do not have any update even after a month. The accused was called for a statement almost two weeks after the incident. I have lost faith in the investigation and feel that the police have almost made up their mind not to take any action,” he said.
Wakode, who has been on a hunger strike for 21 days, said he would continue the protest but shift the sit-in from Mumbai’s Azad Maidan to a location near the IIT-Bombay gate. He said the police would be informed about the venue change.
“We will inform the police, but will hold the protest, with or without their permission. We are anyway holding a peaceful sit-in protest,” he said.
The family’s advocate, Siddharth Ingle, said they had approached several authorities seeking action but had yet to receive relief. The representations were sent to the chief minister, the principal secretary of the home department, the social justice department and the director general of police.
“We are waiting for their response, failing which we will move the court with our writ petition,” Ingle said.
The family has also raised questions about the handling of CCTV footage and the sequence of events before Sahil’s death. Ingle alleged that the police were selectively showing CCTV footage, while the circumstances surrounding the hour after Sahil left the examination hall remained unclear.
Wakode questioned what had happened when his son was in the head of the department’s room and sought details about who had interacted with him and how many people were present.
The father said the lack of clarity over these events was among the reasons the family wanted the investigating officer replaced. He also alleged that the institute’s internal report was likely to be biased.
The family is now considering legal action through a writ petition before the Bombay High Court if its representations to the authorities do not yield a response. (with inputs from media agency)