Mumbai: The Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Mumbai Police have today arrested Arman Iqbal Khatri (age 19) in the Darshan Solanki suicide case that took place in the IIT Bombay. Arman Iqbal Khatri is Darshan Solanki’s batchmate. Both were living on the same floor of the hostel.

SIT had recovered the suicide note on March 3 from Solanki’s room that reads, “Arman has killed me.” During the inquiry, the SIT discovered that harassment by Solanki’s classmate may have been the cause of his death. The handwriting experts have also confirmed that the suicide note recovered earlier, which blamed Arman Iqbal for the drastic step, was written by the 18-year-old deceased Darshan Solanki.

Police said, “We had recorded the statement of Khatri but he is not opening up about the reason that led to the dispute between them. Hence, we arrested him so that we can question him and get the exact sequence of events that led to the fight between Khatri and Solanki.”

The officer further said, “Based on the statements of other students we have recorded, it has come to light that nearly five days prior to the suicide, Solanki had passed a communal remark which had irked Khatri. The latter had threatened him with a cutter and said he would not spare him. Since then, Solanki was petrified and had also apologised to Khatri on a couple of occasions and the two had hugged as well. However, it appears he continued to be scared and had also developed a fever a day before he committed suicide.”

IIT Bombay student Darshan Solanki committed suicide on 12th February 2023. The Mumbai Police Commissioner appointed an SIT to investigate the case, which is led by Lakhmi Gautam, Joint Commissioner (Crime Branch).

Darshan jumped from the refuge area of the IIT-Bombay hostel building on February 12 at around 1 pm. He was taken to the hospital but the doctors declared him brought dead. A case in this regard was then registered at the Powai police station.

Darshan Solanki hailed from Ahmedabad and had joined the institute for a B-Tech course just three and a half months before the incident. Rameshbhai Solanki (47), the father of Darshan, had alleged that Darshan had discussed the caste discrimination he was experiencing at the institute with his older sister Jahnvi and aunt Divyaben.

An internal committee commissioned by the Indian Institute of Bombay found “no specific evidence of direct caste-based discrimination” resulting in the death of Darshan Solanki. The panel also alluded to his “deteriorating academic performance” as a possible reason for taking his life.

However, soon after Darshan committed suicide, a raft of left-leaning ideologues and supporters blamed caste discrimination as the reason for his decision to take the extreme step. They also abused Hindus, alleging that it was due to discrimination perpetuated by the higher caste Hindus that students are forced to the extreme step of ending their lives.

On February 24, the Maharashtra Home Department issued an order to transfer the investigation from the local Powai police station to the Crime Branch, just prior to the beginning of the state’s Budget Session on Monday. The crime branch formed an SIT to probe this matter. The SIT has now arrested the first suspect Arman Iqbal Khatri in this case.