The Mumbai Police Crime Branch is scrutinising CCTV footage covering the examination hall, campus and hostel in connection with the death by suicide of IIT Bombay student Sahil Ravindra Wakode, with the footage emerging as a key part of the ongoing investigation, a Crime Branch official said on Tuesday.
In an earlier statement issued on September 19, IIT Bombay had said the student was caught cheating during an examination and had used a phone to upload the question paper to ChatGPT to seek answers.
Subsequently, a professor questioned him and took him aside, away from the other students, according to the police. The Crime Branch is now piecing together footage from different locations on the campus to establish Sahil’s movements from the examination hall to the hostel and further examine the sequence of events preceding his death. The development comes amid protests and counter-protests at IIT Bombay following Sahil’s death. The Mumbai Police has officially transferred the case to the Crime Branch.
The institute later issued a formal apology and retracted its earlier characterisations of the incident. Security was also stepped up at the campus on Tuesday amid the tensions. IIT Bombay student representatives on Monday said their protest was not intended to justify cheating or academic misconduct but to raise concerns over systemic issues within the institute and seek institutional reforms.
Sahil’s family has alleged caste-based harassment and sought a thorough probe, including a CBI inquiry. His parents have filed a case under the SC/ST Act, alleging discrimination. The family has also sought access to CCTV footage and other evidence and alleged that several people could be involved in the circumstances leading to Sahil’s death.
On Professor Suryanarayana Doolla, the students said they had not presumed his guilt or prejudged the ongoing investigation. They said their demand was for Doolla to be relieved of his administrative duties as Dean of Administrative Affairs during the investigation as a precautionary measure.
