A student of Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (IIT-B) has been arrested in connection with the death of his batchmate Darshan Solanki. The Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Mumbai police arrested Arman Khatri on Sunday, April 9. Darshan, an 18-year-old Dalit student, died by suicide in February this year, sparking protests against caste discrimination on campuses.
The development came days after police found a suicide note that purportedly said, “Arman has killed me.” Arman has been arrested on charges of abetment of suicide and the Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. The note was sent to a handwriting expert who confirmed a match with Darshan’s other samples.
A day after his death, a committee was formed by the institute to probe the incident. It consisted of the convenor of the Chemistry department, wardens of the hostel he was staying in, the head and other student representatives of the SC/ST cell among others. After interviewing 79 people, the committee claimed that caste discrimination was not the cause of Darshan’s death. Meanwhile, Darshan’s father rejected the report and the findings of the committee. Pointing out that the committee had no members from outside IIT Bombay, he said he did not trust them to bring out the truth.