IIT-B student death: CCTV footage reveals what happened between 12:30 pm and 12:45 pm on the exam day

IIT Bombay student death: CCTV footage from 12.30 pm to 12.45 pm on the day IIT-Bombay second-year student Sahil Wakode died by suicide has surfaced to reveal what happened on the fateful day. The footage reportedly shows Professor Suryanarayana Doolla asking Wakode to leave the examination hall after allegedly catching him using ChatGPT during the exam.

According to a report in The Indian Express that cited sources, the footage could be important for the police investigation and will be examined by the Crime Branch team led by ACP Dharamveer Bansod. CCTV cameras in classrooms and lobbies captured the incident.

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Between 12.30 pm and 12.45 pm, minutes before the exam was scheduled to end at 1 pm, Wakode was seen bending slightly and looking at something in his pocket, it said. The footage shows Doolla questioning him and then taking him aside, away from other students. Wakode was later seen outside the examination hall, the report added.

CCTV footage from the lobby shows Wakode entering his hostel room around 1.25 pm. He did not leave the room afterwards and was later found to have died by suicide.

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Two days after his death, the Crime Branch searched Wakode’s hostel room and conducted a panchnama. Officials said no suicide note has been found so far. Investigators are taking precautions after a previous student suicide case at IIT where a note was initially missing but later found in a book in the room.

The Crime Branch has also taken CCTV footage and other material from Wakode’s room. No summons have been issued yet, as investigators are focusing on collecting paperwork from Powai police, where the FIR was first registered.

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The Crime Branch will register its FIR after the case is transferred from Powai police. The latter had registered a case under charges of abetment to suicide and relevant provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, naming Doolla among others.

Wakode’s father, Ravindra, alleged that Doolla subjected his son to caste-based discrimination for three months, allegedly on the instructions of the IIT-Bombay director.