IIT Bombay Suspends Dean Suryanarayana Doolla Amid Student Suicide Probe

IIT Bombay has suspended Dean of Administrative Affairs Professor Suryanarayana Doolla with immediate effect as the investigation into a student suicide continues. Director Shirish B. Kedare informed students by email that any further action would follow the inquiry.

The institute has also apologised and withdrawn parts of its earlier account of the events before the student’s death. “We apologise for the statements contained in our earlier communication concerning the circumstances surrounding the unfortunate demise of Sahil,” the institute stated.

It added that the matter was still under investigation and earlier characterisations should not have been made. The move comes as some students and the IIT Bombay Faculty Forum have publicly backed Doolla even as the police probe and FIR continue.

Student Faculty Support

Students backed Doolla. An IIT-B students’ X handle wrote: “We students, especially those from the Energy Department, express our condolences to (student's) family and loved ones. We stand with Prof. Doolla and reject the false allegations against him. If he resigns or is suspended, the media may present it as confirmation of the casteist remarks.”

The IIT Bombay Faculty Forum also expressed solidarity with Doolla. It said he had been following institutional procedure after finding the student in “unauthorised possession and use of a smartphone”.

The forum said: “We strongly express our solidarity with our colleague Prof Suryanarayana Doolla, who was discharging his duties in line with the institute’s Senate-approved academic policies currently in force,” while also offering deepest condolences to the family of the student.

Case And Allegations

The case centres on the death of a second-year student. His body was discovered in his hostel room on Friday evening. According to PTI, the second-year BTech student was from the Energy Science and Engineering department and was a native of Maharashtra’s Yavatmal district.

Powai police registered an FIR on a complaint by his parents. The FIR named IIT Bombay professor and examination invigilator Suryanarayan Doolla.

The father’s complaint accused those involved of harassment and caste discrimination. The family said the student faced casteist slurs for three months. Police booked the case under Section 108 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, which deals with abetment of suicide, and under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

Earlier Institute Version

IIT Bombay had earlier tied the incident to an exam matter.

The institute said the matter involved a phone during a mid-semester examination and that the question paper had been uploaded to ChatGPT to look for answers. It had also stated that no disciplinary action had been initiated against him.

Under that earlier account, the instructor and the Head of Department discussed the matter with the student. They counselled him, assuring him that the episode would not affect his academic career. He then returned to his hostel room and was later discovered dead.

In its later clarification, IIT Bombay said: “The details and circumstances leading up to the incident remain subject to investigation by the appropriate authorities. In view of the ongoing investigation, 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.”