The parents of the 2nd-year B.Tech student at IIT Bombay, who died by suicide on Friday (September 18, 2026), have accused the institute administration of caste discrimination against their son. However, the administration has denied the allegation and said that no such concern was raised by the deceased student, nor did he file any complaint to the SC/ST Cell or the administration.
The father of the student, Sahil Wakode, who committed suicide hours after he was caught cheating in an examination, had alleged that his son was subjected to caste discrimination by the IIT Bombay administration. Based on the father’s complaint, an FIR was lodged by the Mumbai Police on Saturday (September 19, 2026) naming Professor Suryanarayan Doolla and others. Along with the charges relating to abetment of suicide, the FIR contained sections of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
Mumbai, Maharashtra: Ravindra Wakode, father of deceased IIT Bombay student Sahil Wakode, says, "I appeal for a thorough investigation into those who pushed him toward suicide through torture and caste discrimination. I urge the government to ensure justice for my child by… pic.twitter.com/EolHVj83ud
— IANS (@ians_india) September 19, 2026
Professor Doolla was reportedly on invigilation duty during the examination, in which Sahil was found using a mobile phone to solve the question paper. According to the administration, he had uploaded the question paper on ChatGPT to get answers. After being caught, he was asked to leave the examination hall, and hours later he was found dead in his hostel room.
The parents of the student told the police that he had earlier informed them that he was facing discrimination and difficulties on the campus. The father mentioned in his complaint that Professor Doolla had been subjecting his son to caste discrimination for the past three months, on the instructions of IIT-Bombay Director, Professor Shireesh B Kedare.
“He had come to the college on his own merit, and everything went fine in the First Year. Things changed in the Second Year when the Director, Shireesh B Kedare, instructed faculty member Suryanarayan Doolla to do caste-based discrimination… Doolla was passing casteist remarks for the past three months and had threatened to implicate him in a wrong manner before the incident took place,” the father reportedly stated in the complaint.
Responding to the allegation of caste discrimination, Kedare said that no caste discrimination exists on IIT Bombay campus and the incident did not involve any caste bias. “And there is absolutely none in this case. In fact, caste-based information of every student is completely hidden and not available for anybody’s information,” Kedare said. The SC/ST Students and Staff Cell of the institute also said that no complaint relating to caste-based discrimination was filed by the student.
Sahil’s parents refused to claim his body until an action was taken in the case. After Mumbai’s Joint Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) Manoj Kumar Sharma informed them that the case was being transferred to the Crime Branch, they accepted his body and proceeded to perform his last rites. A team of the Mumbai Police Crime Branch, led by an assistant commissioner of police (ACP)-level officer, is investigating the case.
