Police detained Congress MP Varsha Gaikwad and dozens of party workers and activists of the National Students' Union of India on Thursday during a protest outside IIT Bombay's Powai campus over the death of second-year student Sahil Wakode, whose family has alleged he faced caste-based discrimination before his death.
VIDEO | Mumbai: Police remove NSUI workers protesting outside IIT-Bombay over suicide inside case. "We will continue our fight till the time the culprits are punished," says a member of NSUI.#IITBombay #NSUI #MumbaiNews
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) September 24, 2026
(Full video available on PTI Videos -… pic.twitter.com/ZBMrwTjo59
Wakode, 22, a second-year BTech student, was found dead in his hostel room on the evening of September 18, hours after he was allegedly caught using a mobile phone to access ChatGPT during a mid-semester examination. His parents have said he had told them he faced caste-based slurs.
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Gaikwad, the Mumbai Congress president, and other party workers, including women activists, staged the demonstration at the institute's main gate amid heavy security and police barricades before being taken to the local police station.
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VIDEO | Mumbai: Congress MP Varsha Gaikwad (@VarshaEGaikwad) holds protest outside IIT Bombay campus in Powai over student suicide case.
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) September 24, 2026
She says, “We have come here to hold a peaceful protest. We want justice for Sahil Wakode. And as we have seen, this is not the first such… https://t.co/41TnuDyK6x pic.twitter.com/TqDwYF37RF
"We have come here to hold a peaceful protest. We want justice for Sahil Wakode," Gaikwad said.
She added that similar incidents had occurred at the institute before, referring to the case of Darshan Solanki, a first-year Dalit student who died in February 2023, and asked "who is going to take accountability for this".
She said Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi had spoken to Wakode's family and told them the party would "fight their battle" to ensure justice.
Gaikwad also accused the police of manhandling protesters during a peaceful demonstration, telling reporters, "I don't understand why the police are treating us like this... Even before coming here, the police have continuously tried to take us away."
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VIDEO | Mumbai: Congress MP Varsha Gaikwad holds protest outside IIT Bombay campus in Powai over student suicide case.
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) September 24, 2026
(Full video available on PTI Videos - https://t.co/d8jp61yd2p) pic.twitter.com/Iu1vYLLXWA
In the Solanki case, police registered a case of abetment to suicide against an unidentified person under Section 306 of the erstwhile Indian Penal Code, along with provisions of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, more than a month after his death, following persistent pressure from his family.
IIT Bombay has not yet issued a public statement on the allegations raised by his family. It remains unclear whether a formal police complaint has been filed in connection with the case.
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