IIT Bombay Student's Suicide Prompts Abetment Case, Father Alleges Caste-Based Torture

A death that started with a cheating allegation

Sahil Ravindra Wakode, a second-year student in IIT Bombay's Energy Science and Engineering department, was found hanging from a ceiling fan in his hostel room on the Powai campus Friday evening, September 18, according to the Press Trust of India as carried by The Print. Age is reported as 22 by PTI and India Today; NDTV reported him as 20. No suicide note was found, police said.

Hours earlier, Wakode had allegedly been caught using a mobile phone during an examination. IIT Bombay said in a statement that he had uploaded the exam question paper to ChatGPT to seek answers. The institute said the course instructor and the department head spoke with him, counseled him, and assured him the incident would not hurt his academic record. He then returned to his hostel room. When hostel mates got no response later that evening, they alerted authorities, who called police.

Police initially filed an Accidental Death Report. That changed Saturday, September 19, when Wakode's parents arrived in Mumbai from Yavatmal district and filed a formal complaint. Powai police then registered a case under Section 108 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, India's abetment-of-suicide provision, and added charges under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, according to PTI and India Today. Late Saturday, the case was handed to the Mumbai Police Crime Branch, with an ACP-rank officer assigned to lead the investigation, Times of India and Dynamite News reported.

What the family alleges

Wakode's mother told reporters, as quoted by PTI, "My son was killed, tortured. I want justice." His father, Ravindra Wakode, said in statements carried by Times of India, Dynamite News and IANS that his son endured three months of caste-based harassment before his death, and called for the government to terminate those responsible from their jobs.

NDTV reported additional detail from the family's complaint: that the FIR names Professor Suryanarayan Dulla, who was also the exam invigilator, and alleges he hurled caste-based abuse at the direction of IIT Bombay Director Shireesh Kedare. NDTV reported the father's account that Sahil once told him the professor threatened to "easily implicate him in a false case" because of his caste. Times of India and Dynamite News spell the professor's name as Suryanarayana Doolla; the discrepancy appears to be a transliteration issue across outlets rather than two different people, since both describe him as the invigilator named in the FIR. The FIR also lists unnamed "other senior officials" and "other officials concerned."

These are allegations in a police complaint. No charges have been proven, and no court has ruled on them. The Crime Branch investigation is what will determine whether the allegations hold up.

IIT Bombay's denial

Dynamite News reported that Director Shireesh Kedare has denied the caste-discrimination allegations directly, stating that caste-related information about students is kept confidential and is not available to faculty or administrators. The institute's SC/ST cell said it had received no complaint from Wakode before his death, according to the same report.

IIT Bombay has also repeatedly maintained, in statements cited by India Today and The Print, that no disciplinary action was initiated against Wakode over the ChatGPT incident, and that he was told the matter would not affect his academic career.

The family says Sahil was threatened with suspension and subjected to months of caste-based abuse. The institute says no disciplinary process was underway and no caste complaint had ever been filed. Both accounts are now part of what DCP Dutt Nalavade told India Today would be investigated "from all angles."

Campus protests and a third death in seven months

The death triggered protests on the Powai campus, with students demanding a transparent inquiry and, according to India Today, calling for Kedare's resignation. One student told IANS the administration showed "insensitive behaviour" in how it handled the alleged academic malpractice, saying a formal warning process, not an on-the-spot confrontation, would have been more appropriate for a 22-year-old caught cheating.

PTI's report for The Print notes this is the third reported student suicide on the IIT Bombay Powai campus in seven months. A second-year student died by suicide in February 2026, and another 20-year-old second-year BTech student died in July 2026. IIT Bombay has not, in these reports, addressed what if anything changed after those two earlier deaths.

Union Minister of State Raksha Khadse told reporters, as quoted by IANS, that "the government will make every possible effort to investigate thoroughly and take appropriate action," without specifying what that action would involve.

The Crime Branch probe is now the deciding factor. It will need to establish whether the alleged caste-based threats occurred, whether any suspension threat was actually made despite the institute's denial, and whether Professor Dulla or any other named official bears criminal responsibility under the abetment and SC/ST Act provisions. No trial date has been set.