IIT-B suicide: Solanki wanted to leave Mumbai, police tell court | Mumbai news - Hindustan Times
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IIT-B suicide: Solanki wanted to leave Mumbai, police tell court

Apr 16, 2023 12:46 AM IST

The police on Saturday sought to extend the remand of Solanki’s batchmate, Arman Khatri, who was arrested on April 9 for allegedly abetting Solanki’s suicide.

Mumbai: Darshan Solanki – the Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay (IIT-B) student who died by suicide in February this year – had decided “to leave Mumbai and go to his native place,” states an application filed by Mumbai Police.

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The police on Saturday sought to extend the remand of Solanki’s batchmate, Arman Khatri, who was arrested on April 9 for allegedly abetting Solanki’s suicide. The special investigation team (SIT) of the Mumbai Police Crime Branch produced Khatri before the special court for cases under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities Act).

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According to the police, Solanki had on February 9 abused Arman over his religion. Though the 18-year-old chemical engineering student subsequently apologised to him, Khatri had threatened him with a paper cutter.

Public prosecutor Veena Shelar sought a seven-day further extension of his police custody remand, stating that the SIT was yet to get all the WhatsApp chats/conversations exchanged between Solanki and Khatri.

The prosecution, however, informed the court that on Friday, they had received a pen drive from the forensic science laboratory, containing some of the WhatsApp messages exchanged between the deceased and the accused.

In the message, highlighted in the remand application, Solanki had apologised to Arman saying, “Bhai baat karni he tere se, maaf kar de mereko, aage se kuch nahi hoga, Bhai mai ghar ja raha hoo Mumbai chhod ke. (I want to talk to you, I am sorry. Further, nothing will happen, I am leaving Mumbai and going home.)”

Though it is not yet clear, if Solanki was referring to the short break after their first-semester examination or if Solanki intended to quit IIT-B, the police said, adding that they wanted Khatri’s further remand to confront him with these messages.

The plea was objected to by Khatri’s lawyer, advocate Dinesh Gupta, saying that he was not a hardcore criminal and had cooperated with the police investigation and prayed for his judicial custody.

The court accepted his request and remanded the student in judicial custody for fourteen days after which Khatri’s lawyer moved a bail plea.

In his bail plea, he said that the charge of abetment to suicide did not apply to him, as there was no direct or indirect evidence to suggest that Solanki ended his life because of him and there was no evidence to even show that he had threatened him.

The special judge, while rejecting the plea, said that no justified ground is made out to secure the further presence of the accused with police.

Gupta further claimed that neither Solanki’s parents nor any student from IIT-B had said that Khatri had threatened Solanki so much that he ended his life and that he was already given a clean chit by the institute management and the Powai Police, which investigated the case first. He has also contended that Khatri’s further incarceration would affect his education.

The suicide sparked controversy after Solanki’s parents alleged that their son was a victim of caste discrimination on the campus. On March 16, Solanki’s father had submitted a written complaint to the Mumbai Police, suspecting foul play in the death of his son.

The FIR was registered under section 306 (abetment to suicide) of the Indian Penal Code and section 3(2)(v) (knowingly commit an offence against a person belonging to a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe or his or her property) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.

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