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8h ago

IIT Bombay Panel Given Extra Week as Parents Begin Hunger Strike Over Student’s Death

Loss of trust in the institute’s internal inquiry has raised urgent calls for an external probe and broader reform to address allegations of caste bias and campus safety

Students standing in support of the 20-year-old IIT Bombay student who allegedly died by suicide last week have demanded that the committee set up to investigate his death be dissolved and replaced with an independent external body.
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Overview

  • Sahil Wakode, a 22-year-old IIT Bombay student, was found dead on September 18, 2026 after an exam‑time confrontation that the institute initially described as an alleged malpractice incident.
  • Wakode’s parents filed a police FIR accusing professor Suryanarayana Doolla of caste discrimination and abetment to suicide, and the Mumbai Police Crime Branch is conducting a criminal probe.
  • IIT Bombay’s board set up a 10‑member internal inquiry and placed Prof. Doolla on leave, and the committee has sought and received a one‑week extension to finish its work.
  • Students, alumni and the family demand the internal panel be dissolved and replaced by an independent external body, and Wakode’s parents began a hunger strike at Azad Maidan on September 28 to press this demand.
  • A short leaked exam‑hall clip and early institute statements have drawn criticism for vilifying the deceased without forensic proof, while alumni letters link the case to a wider pattern of student distress and call for mental‑health, faculty sensitisation and anti‑bias reforms.