IIT-Bombay panel rules out caste bias in chemical engineer suicide case

Mumbai: An interim report submitted by an IIT Bombay panel has ruled out any caste discrimination against Darshan Solanki, the first year chemical engineering student who allegedly committed suicide recently.
His "deteriorating academic performance" appeared to "be a strong reason" which affected the student "very seriously", the report has stated.
A 12-member interim inquiry committee was appointed by IIT-B under the chairmanship of professor Nand Kishore, department of chemistry, on February 13 to probe the incident. It interviewed a total of 79 people including hostel mates, friends, mess workers, faculty and a delivery boy too.
Student didn't contact SC/ST cell: IIT-Bomaby report
An interim report submitted by a panel appointed by IIT-B to probe the alleged suicide of a student said, "His (Darshan Solanki) academic performance in various courses deteriorated in the second half of the autumn semester. His perceived poor academic performance must have seriously affected him."
According to Darshan's friends, the Ahmedabad native often said he was planning to quit IIT-B and sign up at another college in his hometown. He had sought a Hindi help-session in the math course. A teaching assistant found him absent from most tutorials in the second semester and informed the panel that Darshan had not submitted several assignments.
The committee ruled out any romantic relationships or substance abuse, accident or homicide as causes of death. "He neither contacted the SC-ST student cell nor the cell mentors about facing any kind of caste discrimination/difficulty. But one of his friends belonging to SC/ST category informed that Darshan was sensitive about his caste identity," the report, a copy of which is with TOI, read.
The student's father refused to accept the findings. "I do not accept this report. We are awaiting the report of the Maharashtra SIT. On day 1, IIT authorities were telling us that this was suicide and there was no caste discrimination. And now, the report also says the same. Our family believes this was not a suicide and our son has been murdered. He was also facing caste discrimination," said father Ramesh Solanki.
Friends who were interviewed said Solanki did "not show much interest in studies and preferred to stay in the hostel room most of the time, including during regular academic hours". It was also informed that "he used to skip classes regularly, sleep a lot".
One of his friends said Darshan had "problems in understanding lectures." Solanki was among "20 poorly performing" students of his department who were called to meet the faculty advisor, but he did not present himself.
In the initial months after joining the campus, Solanki could not "bond" with hostel mates. "Although he was amicable, he preferred to be alone, would not initiate conversations, and...was perceived to be an introvert." The report concluded that in the absence of call data, forensic analysis of his phone/laptop, and post-mortem report, the committee could not arrive at a final conclusion on what actually caused the student to take the extreme step.