By Reshma Pasupuleti 
The father of Darshan Solanki, a first-year student of IIT Bombay who allegedly committed suicide in February this year, has written a letter to Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde alleging that his family was facing harassment from the police in the registration of an FIR into the death of his
The father of Darshan Solanki, an 18-year-old of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay student who allegedly committed suicide by jumping off the 7th floor of hostel building last month, wrote a letter to Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde alleging that his family was facing harassment from the police in the registration of an FIR into the death of his son.
The deceased was a first year student of the B.Tech (Chemical) course and hailed from Ahmedabad, Gujarat, allegedly committed suicide on February 12 this year.
Police, SIT refused to register FIR
The father of the deceased in his letter written on Wednesday claimed that the police and the Special Investigation Team (SIT) refused to register the FIR. The letter copy was also addressed to Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Mumbai Police Commissioner Vivek Phansalkar.
The family claimed that Darshan faced discrimination at IIT Bombay for belonging to a Scheduled Caste community and suspected foul play in his death. However, the inquiry committee set up by the institute had ruled out caste-based discrimination and hinted at deteriorating academic performance as a possible cause of suicide.
In his letter, Darshan’s father Ramesh Solanki said, “This is to inform you that I along with my family had travelled from Ahmedabad to visit the Powai police station for registration of FIR on the basis of my complaint dated March 16 in the case of my son’s death. However, in spite of our requests the Powai police station refused to register the FIR stating that since the SIT has been constituted to investigate the case, they cannot register the FIR and they will forward the complaint to the SIT for necessary action.”
He further said that a Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) present at that time was non-cooperative and refused to entertain their request for registration of the FIR. The deceased’s father also alleged that when the family approached the SIT with the same demand on March 16 it also did not cooperate.
“Shocked and disheartened by attitude of police and SIT”
“We are completely shocked and disheartened by the attitude of the police and the members of the SIT, who have been refusing to register the FIR for almost two weeks and are now forcing us to write their version. Their demeanour does not inspire any confidence in us and is suspect to say the least,” the letter said.
“We are apprehensive that the SIT is attempting to sideline and divert the investigation from the angle of caste discrimination faced by Darshan,” Darshan’s father said.
“We request you to please take stock of the matter and ensure that the FIR is registered on the basis of our complaint and the investigation is carried out independently and fairly without any foul play…Please act urgently in the matter to ensure justice to our son, who met his untimely death due to caste discrimination faced by him on the IIT Bombay campus, and uphold the truth,” he said.
On Monday, the SIT of Mumbai Police probing Darshan’s death said it has recovered a note that mentions the name of his hostel mate, an official said on Monday. The purported suicide note, written on a piece of paper, was recovered from Solanki’s hostel room some days ago, he added.