Mumbai: Ravindra Wakode, father of second-year IIT-Bombay student Sahil, who died by suicide on Sept 18, has decided to approach Bombay High Court to seek a fair investigation into his son’s death.The police have registered an abetment to suicide case against professor Suryanarayana Doolla.The parents will also seek a change in the investigating officer. While Wakode plans to continue his agitation, he has decided to move the sit-in hunger strike from Azad Maidan to near the IIT-Bombay gate, after intimating the police.During a media interaction, Wakode said, “The case was transferred to the crime branch, as per our demand, but we do not have any update even after a month. The accused was called for a statement almost two weeks after the incident. I have lost faith in the investigation and feel that the police have almost made up their mind not to take any action,” he told mediapersons.Senior police officers were not available for comment.Wakode, who has been on a hunger strike for 21 days, said that he has decided to continue his agitation from outside the IIT-Bombay gate. “We will inform the police, but will hold the protest, with or without their permission. We are anyway holding a peaceful sit-in protest,” he said.His advocate, Siddharth Ingle, said they have so far written to all the offices concerned seeking action, but have failed to get any relief. “We have written to the chief minister, principal secretary of the home department, social justice department, and the director general of police. We are waiting for their response, failing which we will move the court with our writ petition,” said Ingle.Ingle said the police are selectively showing CCTV footage and there is still no clarity on what happened to Sahil for one hour after he left the exam hall. “What happened inside the head of the department’s room? How many people and who interacted with him? We still do not have any details. This is why it is necessary to change the investigating officer,” Sahil’s father alleged. He also claimed that the institute’s internal report is likely to be biased.(Inputs by Ahmed Ali)
