IIT Bombay Student Death: Special court grants bail to student arrested on abetment charges

MUMBAI: A special court here on Saturday granted bail to Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay student Arman Khatri, arrested for allegedly abetting the suicide of fellow student Darshan Solanki. The court directed Khatri to furnish cash bail of Rs 25,000, said his advocate Dinesh Gupta.

Solanki, who hailed from Ahmedabad and was a first-year student of the B Tech (Chemical) course, died after allegedly jumping off the seventh floor of a hostel building on the IITB campus in suburban Powai on February 12, a day after the semester exams ended. Three weeks later, a special investigation team (SIT) of Mumbai police found a one-line note from Solanki's room saying, “Arman has killed me”.

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Khatri was arrested on April 9 by the city crime branch's special investigation team and was booked under charges of abetment to suicide and criminal intimidation of the Indian Penal Code and under the provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

According to the police, two days before his death, Solanki had allegedly made a communal remark in a conversation with Khatri following which the latter threatened Solanki with a paper cutter. Solanki was visibly scared by this incident and had suffered from a fever that night, police claimed. As per police, Solanki had sent WhatsApp messages to Khatri apologising for the remark and saying that he was going back home and leaving Mumbai.

Khatri in his bail plea said he was targeted and implicated in the case. The plea said there was no evidence to show Khatri had directly abetted Solanki's suicide . It further said that Solanki's parents had never levelled any allegations against Khatri in their complaint to the police. Khatri is a young student with no criminal antecedents and such incarceration would hamper his future, the plea said.