The grandmother of Sahil Wakode, a 22-year-old IIT Bombay student whose death has prompted allegations of caste-based discrimination and harassment at the college, has told NDTV that her family wants a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry into the circumstances surrounding his death.
“Since childhood, he used to come first in every class. “Before going to college, he came to us to seek our blessings. He wanted all the children to go to IIT. Sahil’s idol was APJ Abdul Kalam. He wanted to become like Abdul Kalam. Her remarks came amid a police investigation into Sahil’s death, a second-year BTech student in the Department of Energy Science and Engineering. Sahil was allegedly caught using a mobile phone during a mid-semester examination.
The student was found hanging from a ceiling fan in his room at Hostel Number 4 on the IIT Bombay campus in Mumbai’s Powai area on Friday evening.
He studied very well in his first year as well, and this year was also going very well,” Sahil’s grandmother told NDTV. He told us that when he returned, he would guide children here like him. He allegedly used ChatGPT during the exam, according to IIT Bombay officials. IIT Bombay, in a statement, said the student had allegedly uploaded the examination question paper to ChatGPT to seek answers.
She described him as an exceptionally bright student who had consistently performed well in school and had dreams of building a future inspired by former president APJ Abdul Kalam. “Sahil was a very bright student. “Our child cannot do anything wrong. He is a boy who worked very hard to get into IIT. All the children were studying by looking up to him.”
Speaking to NDTV, Sahil’s grandmother Shyamlata Tayade said the family could not accept that a young man who had worked hard to secure admission to one of India’s premier institutions had died by suicide. Our child cannot die by suicide,” she said.
