The cutter which was allegedly used to threaten IIT-Bombay student Darshan Solanki by his batchmate Arman Khatri has been recovered, the Mumbai Police SIT said on Tuesday, 11 April.
The police said that Solanki allegedly died by suicide due to fear that Khatri could cause him harm. In its remand report, the Mumbai Police mentions the recovery of the cutter as one of the reasons for them to seek Khatri's police custody.
"Today, we took Khatri to his hostel room on IIT campus. There, we recovered the cutter based on the information provided by him in the presence of witnesses. It will be an important evidence," a police official was quoted as saying by The Indian Express.
The police had said on Sunday, 9 April, that they had arrested Khatri in connection with alleged abetment of suicide.
Khatri was allegedly mentioned in the 'suicide note' recovered by the SIT last month from Darshan's room. The note read, “Arman has killed me,” said the Mumbai police, as quoted by PTI.
While Darshan's family and student bodies have linked his death to caste discrimination on campus, IIT Bombay has consistently refuted these allegations and said that Darshan was “severely affected by his deteriorating academic performance.”
However, after recovering the suicide note, as per media reports, the police said that Khatri was “harassing and threatening him (Darshan).”
Solanki, a first-year student of B.Tech in Chemical Engineering at IIT-Bombay, had died by suicide on 12 February. His family hails from Ahmedabad in Gujarat and they belong to the Dalit community.
(With inputs from PTI and The Indian Express.)
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)