IIT Bombay suicide: Family alleges police tried to move them out of Mumbai; cops deny

Security personnel stand guard inside the IIT Bombay campus, in Mumbai, Maharashtra, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2026. (PTI Photo)

A day after IIT Bombay student Sahil Wakode’s father announced that he would begin a hunger strike if no one was arrested in the case over his son’s death by suicide, his lawyer on Wednesday alleged that Mumbai Police tried to take the Wakode couple out of the city against their wishes.

Police, however, denied the allegation, saying the couple had themselves asked to be taken to Yavatmal.

The allegation came a day after Ravindra and Sonali Wakode addressed the media outside the IIT-Bombay main gate and demanded action in the case. Their lawyer, Nikhil Kamble, said the couple had planned to stay in Mumbai but were taken away in a private vehicle early Wednesday.

“I saw that they were asked to get into a private car in a rush. Wakode planned to remain in the city. But despite their plan, the police tried to forcibly take them out of Mumbai,” Kamble alleged.

“I saw that they were asked to get into a private car in a rush. Wakode planned to remain in the city. But despite their plan, the police tried to forcibly take them out of Mumbai,” Kamble alleged. (Express photo by Sankhadeep Banerjee)

He said the couple had initially been travelling in their own vehicle but were asked by police personnel in plain clothes to shift to another car. “They were told by the official that he was taking them home,” he alleged.

According to Kamble, the couple had reached Washim district by early Wednesday. He said the move appeared to have followed their interaction with the media on Tuesday evening.

Earlier in the day, the parents had recorded their statements before the Crime Branch in Bandra and later addressed the media outside IIT-Bombay.

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Students protest against alleged institutional murder as Sahil Wakode, a second-year student of IIT Bombay died by suicide on friday, inside the IIT-B Powai campus in Mumbai on 19 September 2026. (Express photo by Sankhadeep Banerjee)

Ravindra Wakode had said he would begin a hunger strike from Wednesday if there was no arrest in the case.

A Mumbai Police officer denied that the family had been forcibly taken to Yavatmal. The officer said that after the couple addressed the media near the Crime Branch office in Bandra, they told police they wanted to go to IIT-Bombay in Powai.

“They told us that they wanted to be taken to Yavatmal and hence we organised the same,” the officer said.
The officer also denied that the couple was taken out of Mumbai because the father had threatened to stage a hunger strike.

The Wakodes have alleged that their son was subjected to caste-based discrimination on campus. An FIR was registered following a complaint by his father, naming Professor Suryanarayana Doola, who was the invigilator in the classroom where Sahil was allegedly found using a phone during a mid-semester examination on September 18. Sahil died by suicide hours later.

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The death of a second-year BTech student at IIT Bombay after an examination-related incident sparked a major campus protest, with students questioning the institute’s handling of the episode.

Meanwhile, protests inside and outside IIT-Bombay continued for the fifth day on Wednesday, even as regular classes resumed on campus. A section of students continued their sit-in protest inside the campus.

Political outfits, including the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi and Yuvak Congress, also held demonstrations outside the institute’s main gate.

The mid-semester examination that was postponed following Sahil’s death is likely to be conducted over the coming weekend, according to students.