IIT-B student death: Police team visits his home in Ahmedabad

MUMBAI: Mumbai police visited Gujarat on Thursday to record the statements of the parents of Indian Institute of Technology Bombay student Darshan Solanki who died allegedly by suicide on the campus, an official said.

A three-member team from Powai police under whose jurisdiction the premier institute is located reached Solanki's home at Maninagar in Ahmedabad city in the morning, an official said.

Solanki's family on Wednesday had claimed that he faced discrimination at the IIT B for belonging to a Scheduled Caste community and suspected foul play in his death.

As part of its probe, the team will speak to Solanki's mother, father and other relatives. It will record its parents' statements once again, said the official.

Earlier, Solanki's parents had come to Mumbai after learning about his alleged suicide, the official said. In their initial statements, they had not raised any objection to the probe or expressed doubt over their son's death, said the official.

"The police team will now ask them whether they have to say anything more in the case or if they have any complaint against anybody," he said.

Solanki (18), a first-year student of BTech (chemical), died allegedly after jumping off the seventh floor of a hostel building on the Powai campus of the IIT on Sunday (Feb 12).

A student organisation at IIT B had alleged that Solanki faced discrimination over his caste.

The IIT Bombay administration on Tuesday rejected charges of caste bias in the institute and said initial inputs from the deceased's friends suggested there was no discrimination.

The Mumbai police on Wednesday had said that they had started recording the statements of Solanki's hostel mates as part of their probe into the case.