IIT Bombay dean Doolla removed amid campus unrest linked to student suicide and cheating row
Mumbai, September 21: Professor Suryanarayana Doolla, Dean of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay, was suspended on Monday in view of the ongoing protests by students regarding the suicide of student Sahil Vakoda in the campus hostel.
Doolla has been named as an accused in the FIR filed based on the complaint of the family of the student who committed suicide. The case is now being investigated by the Crime Branch of Mumbai Police.
The police officer investigating the case said that the deceased student, Sahil, was studying in the second year of B.Tech in the Department of Energy Science and Engineering at IIT Powai. He was found dead in his hostel room on Friday evening, hours after an incident related to the mid-semester examination. Following this, the deceased student’s father filed a complaint at the Powai police station, accusing the IIT administration of harassment and caste-based discrimination. Based on this, an FIR was registered against the Dean and others. Police transferred the investigation to the Crime Branch on Saturday night. The investigation is being led by the Assistant Commissioner of Police (Detection).
According to the institute, during the mid-semester examination held on September 18, Sahil Wakode was found uploading the question paper to Chat GPT on his mobile phone in the examination hall. Doolla, the instructor for the relevant course, was supervising the examination. He stopped the student from possessing and using the smartphone without permission and reported the matter to the authorities. Following this, the student was counseled and assured that no action would be taken. However, the student subsequently committed suicide in his hostel room.
In response to this incident, students protested on the IIT Powai campus and submitted a memorandum to the institute administration with 18 demands, including the suspension of the Dean. Additionally, the deceased student’s father filed an FIR against the institute’s dean at the Powai police station. Based on this, the institute suspended the dean today. A thorough investigation is underway into the matter.
