On Sunday, April 9, the Mumbai Police's Special Investigation Team (SIT) arrested a batchmate of IIT Bombay student Darshan Solanki in connection with the alleged abetmen of his suicide, an official said, as stated in a report by PTI. Further, giving more details, he said, the accused, identified as Arman Khatri, and Solanki stayed on the same floor of a hostel of the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay and both were batchmates.
In a purported suicide note recovered by the SIT on March 3, Solanki had mentioned that "Arman has killed me", the official said.
What happened to Solanki?
Hailing from Ahmedabad, Gujarat, Solanki was a first-year student of the BTech (Chemical course). Solanki allegedly died by suicide by jumping off the seventh floor of a hostel building which is located on IIT Bombay campus in suburban Powai on February 12, 2023.
Since then, the investigation has been on. And the Mumbai police's SIT recently received a report from a handwriting expert, which said the handwriting in the purported suicide note recovered from the institute's hostel matched the writing samples of the deceased, confirming that it was written by him, an official earlier said.
The Maharashtra government had formed the SIT to conduct a probe into Solanki's death. Moreover, his family had claimed that he faced discrimination at the premier institute for belonging to a Scheduled Caste (SC) community and suspected foul play in his death.
However, the inquiry committee set up by the IITB had ruled out caste-based discrimination and hinted at deteriorating academic performance as a possible cause of suicide, as stated in a report by PTI.