Mumbai: The parents of Sahil Wakode, an IIT Bombay student who died by suicide, have written to Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis seeking his intervention in the case, their lawyer said.
Advocate Siddharth Ingale, appearing for the family, said they had received information that Professor Suryanarayan Doolla had travelled abroad, and wrote to the chief minister and the joint commissioner of police for details of that travel. The family also wants to know the rules under which he was allowed to leave the country while the investigation was under way. Doolla has been booked for abetment to suicide.
Separately, more than 175 former students of the institute have asked that politics be kept off the campus, where protests have continued for weeks. In a letter, the alumni argued that an institution 'dedicated to education, research, innovation and intellectual development' should not turn into a 'centre of political conflict'.
They said they feared the protests would affect the studies and examinations of about 12,000 students, and flagged the toll a tense, uncertain campus could take on mental health. The alumni put seven points to the administration.
'Students have the right to protest peacefully and demand justice,' their letter said. 'At the same time, the educational interests and safety of other students must be protected.' They asked political parties to act responsibly so that examinations could be held in a calm atmosphere.
A section of current degree students, writing under the banner 'IITB for Bharat', said they were worried about campus security and about political participation in the protests. They alleged that some outsiders had tried to enter the campus, and questioned the presence of political leaders and the demonstrations by political groups outside the main gate.
Azad Samaj Party national president and MP Chandrashekhar Azad has demanded a CBI inquiry into Wakode's death. In a letter to Union home minister Amit Shah, he sought urgent intervention and a probe into the alleged misbehaviour by police with students agitating for justice. More than a month after the death, Azad said, the Mumbai crime branch investigation has still not reached a decisive conclusion.