It was not a suicide, my brother was killed, says IIT Bombay student’s sister

Darshan Solanki, a resident of Ahmedabad, allegedly died by jumping off the seventh floor of his hostel building on the campus. He was pursuing BTech from IIT Bombay.  

The family of an IIT Bombay student, who allegedly committed suicide, said the 18-year-old faced caste bias at the institute and suspect that he was “murdered”.  

Darshan Solanki, a resident of Ahmedabad, allegedly died by jumping off the seventh floor of his hostel building on the campus. He was pursuing BTech from IIT Bombay.  

The sister of the deceased said, “My brother was murdered. The institute is trying to protect its reputation by calling it a suicide. All his life, he strongly condemned suicide. He would casually tell me how the upper caste students looked down upon fellow students belonging to the lower caste,” Hindustan Times reported. 

She said her brother’s “mysterious death posed many questions” and sought a probe into the incident. “We had talked to him a few hours before he took the extreme step and he sounded alright. He also wished birthday to our cousin’s daughter,” she said.  

She also alleged that several other students belonging to “lower” castes were mocked by students from “upper” castes for “enjoying freebies in education at such a great institute”. The deceased’s father said he received a call from the dean of the faculty at 2.30pm on Sunday, saying his son had met with an accident and that the family should reach the institute as soon as possible. 

“On reaching the institute, we were told that my son is no more and that he had died by suicide. I was not allowed to see him as the post-mortem exam was to be done the next day... We were later told that the post-mortem was done. It was carried out without our consent,” the father said. 

Read more: 

• IITB student who ended life had spoken of caste discrimination on campus: Student group
• IIT Bombay student jumps to death
• IIT Madras student hangs himself to death