Mumbai police arrest IIT Bombay student in connection with Darshan Solanki suicide case

The arrest was made on the basis of a purported suicide note, saying “Arman you killed me”, which was found in Solanki’s hostel room. Handwriting analysis confirmed that the note was written by Solanki, an officer said.

Solanki, who was from Ahmedabad, is suspected to have jumped off the eighth floor of his hostel building located on the IIT-B campus in Powai on February 12 this year.

Initially, the police lodged an accidental death report but later the probe was transferred to the SIT headed by Joint Commissioner (Crime) Lakhmi Gautam.

According to the police, it was found during investigation that Khatri had allegedly threatened Solanki after the latter made acommunal remark. Both lived on the same floor of the hostel.

“We had recorded the statement of Khatri but he is not opening up about the reason that led to the dispute between them. We arrested him so that we can question him and get the exact sequence of events that led to the fight between the two,” said a senior officer.

“Based on the statements of other students, it has come to light that nearly five days prior to the suicide, Solanki had made a communal remark, which upset Khatri. He then threatened Solanki with a cutter,” the officer said.

“Since then, Solanki was petrified and also apologised to Khatri on a couple of occasions and the two had hugged as well. However, it appears that Solanki continued to be scared and also developed fever a day before he died by suicide.”

According to the statement of one of the students, the officer said, Solanki wanted to return home to Ahmedabad but feared that Khatri could harm him there as well since his extended family lives in the city.

An officer said, so far, the investigators have not found any caste discrimination – as alleged by Solanki’s family members – angle in the case.

The family had alleged that Solanki died by suicide due to the caste discrimination he faced at the institute following which an FIR was registered on charges of abetment to suicide and under sections of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

On Sunday, producing Khatri in court, the prosecution argued that they needed his custody to find out about exact communal remarks that Solanki made that led him to threaten him. The prosecution further said they still needed to record statements of more students and also recover the cutter which Khatri is alleged to have used to threaten Solanki.

Representing Khatri, lawyer Dinesh Gupta argued that the police had already recorded the statements of students and they did not require his custody to record statements of other students. The court eventually remanded Khatri in police custody till Thursday.