Suryanarayana Doolla, IIT Bombay professor, suspended from deanship amid student suicide probe

IIT Bombay Dean of Administrative Affairs, Professor Suryanarayana Doolla, has been suspended with immediate effect amid the student suicide investigation.

Any further action will be taken following an investigation, director Shirish B. Kedare said in an email to students.

This comes amid a statement by the students of IIT Bombay, who threw their weight behind Professor Doolla.

“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-B student's X handle wrote.

Meanwhile, the IIT Bombay Faculty Forum has also expressed solidarity with Professor Doolla, stating he was following institutional protocol after discovering that the student was in "unauthorised possession and use of a smartphone."

"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," the forum said in the statement, while offering deepest condolences to the family of the student.

The forum said Professor Doolla, the course instructor, was invigilating the mid-semester examination from 11 am to 1 pm on September 18, when he saw a student using a smartphone without authorisation, which it termed "academic malpractice."

The forum said, "As part of the institute-approved procedure, he reported the incident to the institute authorities for further action in the matter. The Faculty Forum of IIT Bombay is absolutely distressed with the tarnishing of the reputation of our colleague Prof. Suryanarayana Doolla, who was merely discharging his academic duties, and following the institute-approved procedures."

IIT Bombay's apology

In an official communication, IIT Bombay also walked back its previous claims about the circumstances leading up to the tragedy, acknowledging that premature assertions had inappropriately framed the events before any due investigative process was completed.

“We apologise for the statements contained in our earlier communication concerning the circumstances surrounding the unfortunate demise of Sahil,” the institute stated.

"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," it added.