Mumbai: Ravindra and Sonali Wakode, parents of IIT Bombay student Sahil Wakod (20) who died by suicide on Sept 18, have petitioned the Bombay High Court to seek a “fair and independent investigation” either by the Central Bureau of Investigation ( CBI ) or by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) into his death and immediate preservation of evidence and protection of witnesses. In the petition, the parents alleged harassment under the Atrocities Act and said a student who had secured a seat on merit “shockingly committed suicide due to abetment by the accused… on caste-based humiliation. ”
The same evening was their son’s last, the petition said and alleged that “proximity between humiliation, the coerced apology… and his death is direct and immediate. ” The father has also moved the special court constituted under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, seeking immediate judicial intervention over alleged harassment, public humiliation, leakage of sensitive investigative material, preservation of evidence and an independent review of the ongoing investigation into his death. The application says the earlier police complaint records offences under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the SC/ST Act, and that the investigation was later transferred to the crime branch. Mumbai police had lodged an FIR for abetment of suicide against IIT professor Suryanarayan Doolla. Ravindra Wakode, the victim’s father and first informant, has filed the plea against the state of Maharashtra, senior Mumbai police officers, the crime branch, Powai police station, the Director General of Police, and authorities of IIT Bombay.
A major concern raised in the plea is the alleged non-availability of page three of Sahil’s answer booklet for the examination held on Sept 18.
The father says this was noticed during document verification at the crime branch office and was immediately brought to the attention of the officer present. The plea states that the issue requires “formal recording and a documented chain-of-custody inquiry.”