Even as protests over the suicide of Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula in the Hyderabad Central University continues to rage across the country, several scheduled caste IAS and IPS officers have come together and started an initiative to help the former's family. 

Central bureaucrats posted in Haryana have created a WhatsApp group to collect funds for the family of Rohith Vemula, The Times of India reported. 

The initiative is said to be headed by an officer in the additional chief secretary-rank and has over 90 members, including some who are non-Dalit officers. 

According to the TOI report, "While there was no demand for assistance, the bureaucrats were shaken by the moving suicide note in which Rohith noted that the university had withheld Rs 1.75 lakh of his scholarship money and urged the family to return Rs 40,000 he owed a friend."

After the group was formed, the officers not only contributed themselves, they also roped in Dalit officers from other services like forest, judicial and provincial bureaucracy . 

A member of the group told TOI, "More than money, it displayed the anguish of the community."