‘Darshan never mentioned the threats to us’

Darshan Solanki

Ramesh Solanki, the father of Darshan Solanki - the 18-year-old student who allegedly died by suicide at IIT-B on Feb 12, has told mid-day his son never mentioned the classmate whose name was discovered in a suicide note found by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) on March 3 in his hostel room. Although the parents have identified the handwriting as that of their son, reports from handwriting experts are awaited.

According to the SIT, which was formed by the state government to look into the incident in the wake of outrage by the family and various groups, the note was discovered during their investigation and contained one line: "(Student's name) has killed me." Ramesh expressed his doubts about the identity of the student mentioned in the note, stating, "He never mentioned the name of the student to us, so we are a little uncertain about it."

‘Taunted over caste'

Darshan had confided in his family about the caste-based discrimination he had been experiencing since receiving a scholarship under the central government's national scholarship programme. He had informed them that some students were taunting him because he belonged to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes category. "This was the cause of immense mental anguish for him," Ramesh told the police in his statement.

‘Told a senior, too'

Ramesh also mentioned that his son had confided in a senior student, who has now graduated from IIT-B, about the discrimination he was facing. According to the father, the senior student had provided a statement to the IIT-B panel in this regard, but unfortunately, it was not taken into consideration. Moreover, Darshan's family claims that he [the senior] was being threatened after he spoke to the panel about the caste-based discrimination.

Also read: Mumbai: Police recover 'suicide' note in Darshan Solanki death case

An undated photo of Darshan Solanki (right) and his family

Ramesh has requested the police to register a case under Section 302 (murder) or Section 306 (abetment to suicide) of the Indian Penal Code. The SIT has registered a case under Section 306 of the IPC and the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. It has already recorded over 30 statements, and its initial investigation suggests that Darshan was being threatened by the classmate whose name was mentioned in the suicide note.

The individual in question is allegedly not revealing the full extent of the circumstances leading up to the suicide, and the SIT is planning to conduct a narco-analysis test on him. However, he is not named in the FIR as an accused.

Ramesh, at the time of the filing of the FIR, submitted an interview with the senior student to an online portal, in which the senior alleged that the 18-year-old had spoken to him about facing caste discrimination. The same student also gave a statement to a 12-member probe committee that was set up by IIT-B on February 18, which ruled out caste discrimination.

"I don't know on what grounds the panel has given their report and I want the police to thoroughly investigate the caste discrimination angle," Ramesh Solanki told mid-day on Thursday.

‘He's happy about home trip'

The father also alleged that hours before the alleged suicide, his son was speaking to him on the phone and was very happy that he was coming home to Ahmedabad. "What really happened to him in between is something we want to understand from the police," he stated.

The father also revealed that his son had once told his sister and grandfather that some of his classmates had stopped speaking to him and taunted him, saying, "Inko to quota me paisa mil jayega", after he applied for a government scholarship on the National Scholar Portal based on his caste.

3 Mar
Day suicide note was found by SIT

12 Feb
Day Darshan allegedly died by suicide