IIT student’s suicide: Darshan Solanki was concerned over poor marks, as per chat, says chargesheet

The SIT that filed the chargesheet on Tuesday before a special court has concluded in its probe that it was Solanki’s poor academic record along with the threat issued by his batchmate Arman Khatri (19) that led to Solanki’s suicide at IIT campus on February 11.

This is in contrast to the complaint made by Solanki’s parents who alleged that their son faced caste discrimination at the IIT campus that pushed him to die by suicide.

The 473-page chargesheet filed by the SIT has charged Khatri under sections of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act in addition to charges of abetment of suicide and criminal intimidation of the Indian Penal Code. It relies on the suicide note written by Solanki on the back of a question paper where he was claimed to have written, “Arman has killed me”. The handwriting analysis of the note by the Crime Investigation Department (CID) confirmed that the note was written by Solanki.

Further, the chargesheet contains statements of 55 persons, including his hostel mates, professors, guards at the hostel among others. The police have attached chats between Solanki and Khatri where it is clear that the former is apologising to Khatri for some communal remarks he made earlier. The chargesheet further mentions that after the fight between Khatri and Solanki, the latter was shivering and he also got fever on February 11 and 12 when his roommate gave him a blanket.

It mentions that Solanki told his hostel friends, “Arman bahut pohchcha hua aadmi hain, mereko maar dalega, woh mereko chodega nahin, I am leaving Mumbai. (Arman is a well connected person, he will not spare me, he will kill me). Solanki further said that Arman told him “tu Bombay chodke ja ke dikha, Mai waha pahunch jaunga (I dare you to leave Mumbai, I will reach where ever you go).” The chargesheet claims that due to these, Solanki got scared.

Police have also added an Instagram chat with a YouTuber that read, “Mai bahut bade samasya me hu… mere se padhai nahi hoti aur marks bhi nahi aati jis se wapas mai depression me chala jata hu. Sir please kuch aisa upay batao jisse mare padhai me interest aane lage (I am in a difficult situation as I am not able to study and get poor marks due to which I go into depression. Please provide a solution to this problem).”

One student has also said that he saw Arman and Solanki in a conversation on a day before the suicide, where he had seen Arman crying. When asked about it, the two left, the student said in his statement.

The chargesheet also claims that Arman had threatened Solanki with a paper cutter, which was seized. The chargesheet also contains statements of IIT teachers on Solanki’s academic record and the IIT internal committee’s report.

On allegations by Solanki’s family that he was pushed to commit suicide due to caste-based harassment, the officer said, “We have recorded the statement of several people, including some names given by the parents, but none of them have given any specific incidents about caste based harassment being meted out to him,” the officer added.

On why Khatri was charged under SC/ST Act, the officer said, “As Khatri was aware that the deceased belonged to a backward caste and as per the SC/ST act, knowledge of a person being from a Scheduled Caste or Tribe is enough to charge them under the Act.”

Soon after an Accidental Death Report was taken at the Powai police station after the suicide, the state government formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) under joint commissioner (crime) Lakhmi Gautam to oversee the probe. The team then found a suicide note in Solanki’s hostel room, following which an FIR was registered and Khatri was arrested. Khatri was eventually released on bail by a Special SC/ST court on May 7.

The SIT is also likely to submit a report to the government about the probe that would include the chronology of events from the Powai police team going to Solanki’s hostel room and the crime branch finding a the suicide note scribbled behind a question paper nearly a month after the incident. It was only after the SIT took over the probe that a detailed panchnama of the room was conducted and medicines and other articles from the room seized.