In a major development in the Sahil Wakode suicide case at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay, the institute administration suspended the deanship of Professor Suryanarayana Doolla on Monday. This critical move came as one of the primary demands outlined in an 18-point charter that was signed by IIT Bombay Director Professor Shireesh Kedare. IIT Bombay officially suspended Professor Doolla’s deanship with immediate effect on Monday, 21st September, a decision that was communicated directly to the students via an email sent by Director Professor Shireesh Kedare.
SOCIAL JUSTICE! pic.twitter.com/2A7ijVffZL
— Rahul Shivshankar (@RShivshankar) September 21, 2026
The incident and immediate outpouring of protests
This administrative action follows a wave of massive protests triggered by a tragic incident on campus. A second-year BTech student at IIT Bombay, Sahil Wakode, took his own life on Friday (18th September) inside his hostel room after being caught red-handed by Professor Suryanarayana Doolla during an examination.
In the wake of this profound tragedy, intense protests erupted across the institute’s campus, with students demanding strict punitive action against the faculty member. Just a day later, on Saturday (19th September), Sahil’s parents came forward with serious allegations, claiming that Professor Doolla had been mentally harassing their son and using casteist slurs against him for three months, allegedly at the behest of IIT Bombay’s Director, Shireesh Kedare.
The mobilisation of political-ideological machinery
As soon as claims of ‘caste discrimination’ surfaced regarding the student’s suicide, the political-ideological machinery that traditionally thrives on identity and caste politics swung swiftly into action. Beneath the surface of student grief and demands for justice, several faces driving the latest IIT Bombay protests have been identified as Leftist students who are exploiting Sahil Wakode’s tragic death to fuel their own brand of caste politics.
Exposing IIT Bombay’s Humanities Dafli gang members behind protests
— Gems of Indian Academia (@GemsofAcademia) September 20, 2026
-> Huma Namal: SFI/The Collective Marxist, doing PhD in Humanities
->Amarkant Thakur: Saying Jai Siyaram is equal to spitting on Dalits, doing PhD in philosophy
Ban Humanities now! pic.twitter.com/j1tzKFgVxV
Amarnath Thakur and his earlier attempt to sow discord among Hindus
One of the leading figures in these protests is Amarnath Thakur, a PhD student in Philosophy at IIT-B. According to official institutional records on the official website, Thakur was previously enrolled in the MA program before transitioning to his PhD. He has been actively working to incite students and aggressively push caste-driven narratives into a suicide case that originated from an examination cheating incident.
Thakur’s involvement in campus agitation is not new. He was previously active following the tragic death of Darshan Solanki, an 18-year-old IIT-B student in 2023, where he similarly sought to exploit the tragedy to sow discord among Hindus by insinuating that Brahmins have historically mistreated Dalits and Shudras. During that period, he also made viral Hinduphobic remarks, openly inciting his peers against Hindus through anti-Brahmin rhetoric. Through his speeches, he consistently attempts to manufacture a caste rift within Hindu society while demonising Hindu deities such as Lord Ram.
Addressing his fellow students during earlier demonstrations, Thakur was recorded saying in Hindi: “This is a Brahminical society. Our federal government, like this university’s administration, is pro-Brahmin. We are unable to express our true feelings because of a constraint imposed by the Brahminical society in which we live. Remember that this is a Brahminical society while you eat, sleep, or do anything. Now, we have to determine what to do with this Brahminical society. And as long as you return home and chant Jai Shri Ram, your thoughts will be entirely bound by Brahmins.”
Deeply hurt by casteist remarks,insult of Prabhu Shri Ram @iitbombay by a PhD.student Amarkant Thakur in the presence of @iitbombay security personnel & @MumbaiPolice. We request @iitbombay @NCSC_GoI @ncsthq @EduMinOfIndia @CPMumbaiPolice @maharashtra_hmo @MSJEGOI to take action pic.twitter.com/5cZFzj82yx
— Devi Shabari-Ambedkar Student Forum, DSAF, IITB (@DSAF_IITB) February 24, 2023
Further attempting to manufacture a deep caste divide and incite hostility against Hindus, Thakur claimed that as long as students chant Jai Shri Ram, they would supposedly be forced to hail Kshatriyas and Vaishyas while looking down upon Shudras and Dalits.
Huma Namal and “The Collective”
Another viral face frequently spotted leading the recent protests is Huma Namal. A PhD student in Humanities at IIT Bombay from the 2022 batch, her academic details are similarly listed on the institute’s official website. In viral video footage from the recent protests, Namal can be heard shouting slogans like “Hamare institute me Jativad hota hai” while actively inciting student hostility and playing caste politics. Furthermore, she is an active member of “The Collective,” and she can be seen in several post shared by the Instagram page of collective_mumbai.
“Iss institute mein jaativaad hota hai.”
— Ritesh (@Ritesh_hisss) September 20, 2026
IIT Bombay students are angry with the faculty following the death by suicide of Dalit student Sahil Wakode.
Sahil’s parents have also alleged that he faced caste-based harassment by faculty members for several months. pic.twitter.com/i25gyCILBi
A socialist student anti-India outfit, founded in 2021, “COLLECTIVE” claims on the surface to draw inspiration from martyr Bhagat Singh, yet it frequently stands accused of glorifying individuals involved in anti-India activities. While presenting itself as an on-campus activist group opposing what it labels “far-right fascist forces,” deeper investigative reports, such as those by OpIndia, reveal that this leftist student-youth faction functions as an extension of a radical Left-Naxal ecosystem engaging in anti-Hindu propaganda.
According to the group’s ideological framing, contemporary India is supposedly under the “ascendancy of far-Right fascist forces” empowered by neo-liberal capitalism and anti-secular tendencies, casting the RSS and BJP as villains while framing state policies as an authoritarian slide.
Some X posts also suggest connections between Namal and the Students’ Federation of India (SFI), a prominent left-wing student organisation. SFI participants have frequently joined protests carrying daflis and dhols, raising familiar slogans such as “Azadi, Azadi,” “Haq Hamari Azadi,” and “Jaan Se Pyari Azadi” during demonstrations.
Adarsh Priyadarshi and interlinked radical networks
Another prominent face driving the protests and inciting student agitation is Adarsh Priyadarshi, a PhD student in the Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS) Department of IIT-B. Beyond his involvement in campus unrest, Priyadarshi faced severe public scrutiny last year when a minor girl from Delhi University accused him of sexual harassment. The victim publicly shared her ordeal alongside screenshots of his Instagram and X profiles, noting, “It’s unfortunate that I have to go public with a harasser because I tried handling it privately. I had hoped that appropriate action would be taken against this man, but clearly none of that has happened, because he still has a platform and all of his connections.”
HSS Department of IITB has student named Adarsh Priyadarshi (Phd).
— Gems of Indian Academia (@GemsofAcademia) September 21, 2026
He was inciting students to protest yesterday.
He was Accussed of sexual harassment by Minor girl from Delhi University.
Here is tweet by victim girl : https://t.co/BuqBl8Hh7D pic.twitter.com/h11DrJgBP0
Significantly, these key agitators are far from strangers to one another. In a video shared three years ago on a YouTube channel titled Let’s Talk Tattva, Amarnath Thakur and Adarsh Priyadarshi were featured together participating in a common discussion, highlighting their longstanding associations within radical campus circles.
Turning IIT Bombay into another JNU?
Through calculated agitations, inflammatory speeches, and pre-existing ideological networks, these leftist student activists have consistently demonstrated a pattern of exploiting student tragedies, such as the suicide of Sahil Wakode, to advance partisan caste politics. By pushing polarising, Hinduphobic narratives and manufacturing deep-seated social fractures, these factions are actively attempting to transform the premier academic environment of IIT Bombay into another ideological battleground reminiscent of JNU.
