Mumbai: A Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Mumbai Crime Branch police probing the suicide of an 18-year-old IIT-Bombay student, on Sunday said that they have arrested a student of the same institute in connection to the case.
According to Mumbai police, a case was registered under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. The accused student, identified as Armaan Iqbal Khatri, has been arrested on the basis of a suicide note recovered from the hostel room of the deceased, Darshan Solanki, in which he blamed Armaan for him taking the extreme step of ending his life.
"Armaan has killed me", the suicide note read. Mumbai Police's SIT officers said that during interrogation accused Armaan was not answering the questions properly and wasn't telling much. Armaan will be presented before the court on Sunday. Darshan Solanki allegedly committed suicide at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay campus on February 12 this year, a day after his semester exams ended.
On March 3, a special investigation team (SIT) formed by Mumbai Police stumbled upon a "suicide note" in his hostel room in which the deceased had accused one student of harassing and threatening him. According to the police, "The handwriting expert said in his report that the suicide note recovered by the police is written by Darshan Solanki. The expert sent the report to the police on Thursday night."
On March 29, Solanki's father wrote to Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Deputy CM-Home Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Mumbai Police Commissioner Vivek Phansalkar alleging that his family is facing harassment from the police for registering an FIR into the death of his son. Solanki was originally from Ahmedabad and was pursuing B Tech at IIT Bombay.
Solanki's family earlier alleged foul play in his death and claimed that he faced discrimination at the IITB for belonging to a Scheduled Caste (SC) community. Darshan's father, Ramesh Solanki, further requested the authorities to take action against the police. Following demands for a detailed probe by his parents, on February 28, the case was transferred to the city crime branch SIT. In the suicide case, police have so far recorded the statements of 35 people. During the SIT inquiry, many students of IIT Bombay told the police that there was a dispute between Darshan Solanki and Armaan a few days before the suicide.
When the police inquired about the reason, the students told them that Darshan Solanki had commented about Muslim society, following which Armaan threatened him. Earlier on April 7, the SIT received a report from a handwriting expert which said the purported suicide note found in the deceased's hostel room was written by him.
"There used to be an argument between accused Armaan and Darshan, after which accused Armaan threatened him by showing a knife," officials said. Powai police registered an Accidental Death Report (ADR) and started further investigation.
Also read: IIT Bombay student death: Handwriting analysis confirms 'suicide note' written by deceased, say cops
