Before Suicide, IIT Bombay Student Sahil Wakode Asked For "One More Chance": Sources

Sahil Wakode, the IIT Bombay student allegedly caught using a mobile phone and ChatGPT during an exam, had expressed remorse and asked the institute for "one more chance" before dying by suicide, police sources have told NDTV.

Wakode, 22, was found hanging in his hostel room on the campus of the Indian Institute of Technology in Mumbai's Powai on September 18, hours after the alleged cheating attempt.

The second-year student was caught by Professor Suryanarayana Doolla, who was subsequently accused by Wakode's parents of caste discrimination against their son. 

READ | 'Student Will Be Heard First': IIT Bombay Draft Rules On Cheating In Exam

"When he was caught, Sahil expressed regret and requested that he be given one more chance," said an official. 

After Wakode's death, IIT Bombay issued a statement and said no disciplinary action had been initiated against him.

The Mumbai Police has recorded the statement of IIT Bombay director Shireesh Kedare and nearly 40 others. Doolla was also questioned for over eight hours. 

The sources said the professor refuted the claims made by Wakode's parents and asserted that no student was mentally harassed. 

"While speaking to a 10-member committee of the IIT, we were told that a strict rule mandating a fail grade and a one-semester suspension for using electronic gadgets for copying was withdrawn in August," said the official. 

READ | Help Us Get Truth Out: Sahil Wakode Parents' Appeal To IIT Students

After the allegations were levelled against him, Doolla was removed as the dean of students' welfare and sent on leave.

Wakode's father, Ravindra Wakode, had claimed that his son had told him about the problems he was facing. "My son had told me about this discrimination (meted out by Doolla), but I told him it is difficult to get an IIT seat and to bear with it," he told reporters.

Some faculty members at the institute had spoken up in support of Doolla. 

"The student indulged in malpractice during the exam. Prof Doolla reported the matter to the head of the department. If a professor is being vilified just for discharging his duties, then it is a problem for the entire teaching community in the country," Prof Rajkumar Pant, chief of the IIT Bombay Faculty Forum, said.

Protests were held on the IIT campus and at Azad Maidan and Wakode's parents had also made an appeal to students from the institute to send them any evidence related to their son's "harassment" and death.