IIT Bombay suspends dean’s role of professor named in student suicide case, apologises

Mumbai: IIT Bombay on Monday suspended the deanship of Professor Suryanarayana Doolla with immediate effect and apologised for remarks in an earlier statement on the death by suicide of 20-year-old BTech student Sahil Wakode, as student protests over alleged caste bias and institutional insensitivity entered their fourth day.

Director Prof Shireesh Kedare conveyed the decision in an email to students at noon, saying: “The Deanship of Prof. Suryanarayana Doolla is suspended with immediate effect. Any further action will be taken after investigation.” The institute did not issue a separate press statement on the suspension.

Doolla, formerly Dean of Students Affairs and currently Dean of Administrative Affairs, was invigilating the exam Sahil was writing when the incident occurred. He has been named in the FIR lodged by Mumbai Police after a complaint by Sahil’s parents, who allege their son faced caste-based discrimination at the hands of the professor.

The suspension of Doolla’s administrative role was among 18 demands handed over to Kedare by protesting students on Sunday night, following nearly three hours of talks at the institute’s main gate. While the director signed the charter and assured students the administration would work towards meeting their demands, many protesters said the move fell short, insisting they had sought his suspension as a professor, not merely his removal from a dean’s post.

Students had also objected to the institute’s initial communication, which referred to Sahil’s alleged use of an AI platform during the exam. They argued that details before the disciplinary committee should have remained confidential until the process concluded. “Putting out an allegation against a student who is not even here to defend himself amounts to defamation,” one protester said.

Meeting another key demand, IIT Bombay later apologised for its earlier statements. In a post on X, the institute said the “details and circumstances leading up to the incident remain subject to investigation by the appropriate authorities” and acknowledged it was “inappropriate to have set out or characterised details relating to the events preceding his demise before they had been duly established through the appropriate investigative process”.

The Board of Governors was scheduled to discuss the students’ charter on Monday, with the administration expected to brief students at an open house later in the day.