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‘Solanki and Khatri were close friends,’ claim IIT Bombay batchmates as Mumbai Police arrests student in suicide case

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Darshan’s father says a single boy cannot be the only reason behind his son’s demise.

Nearly two months after Darshan Solanki, a Dalit student of the Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay allegedly died by suicide, the Mumbai Police has arrested a fellow student identified as Armaan Iqbal Khatri on charges of abetment to suicide.

Arman Iqbal Khatri, an 18-year-old boy from Vile Parle, was named in the suicide note SIT had found inside the hostel room of the deceased student on March 26. In the suicide note, Darshan blamed Khatri for driving him to his death.

Though the probe is still on, IIT-B students who knew Arman recognise the latter as incapable of a crime.

According to some of Armaan’s batch mates, Arman and Darshan had become good friends, though Arman generally was a quiet student.“They both were close and Armaan knew that Darshan was going through depression due to his low grades,  in fact, Darshan took the drastic step, Arman was most affected,” said a friend of Aarman who did not wish to be named.

Darshan’s father Mr Ramesh Solanki had spoken to the mumbaipress earlier that SIT’s claim about Darshan having fought with Arman for three days, on 9, 10, and 11 February after which  Darshan met an unfortunate demise on February 12 cannot be the sole reason for the tragedy. “We have not been told anything about the reason behind this fight, but the SIT stated that Armaan threatened Darshan with a cutter in the hostel room. I believe that a single boy cannot be the only reason behind Darshan’s demise. This goes much deeper,” Mr. Ramesh told this newspaper today.

However, the claim about the knife is not entirely true, said the friends. “Apart from having silly fights common between friends, it never got serious and Aarman never pointed a knife at him.”

On February 12, 2023, Darshan was reported to have jumped from the seventh floor of his hostel building at IIT-B and his body was found by the security guards who saw him in a pool of blood. Darshan from Ahmedabadwas a first-year student of the B.Tech course.

Initially, after the incident, the Powai police station registered an Accidental Death Report (ADR). However, after the suicide note was found, a new direction was given to the investigation.

The Ambedkar Periyar Phule Study Circle (APPSC) of IIT-Bombay was the first to raise the issue of Darshan’s death as a case of caste discrimination and called it “institutional murder” – a charge which was denied by the institute.

Crime

Mumbai: Speeding Dumper Hits 2 Bikers Near Birla Centurion Mill, One Killed

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Mumbai: A tragic accident occurred in Worli, where a speeding dumper rammed into two bikers, killing one on the spot. The deceased has been identified as Rohan Gupta (21), while the other rider, Sanket Virendrakumar Sharma (21), sustained serious injuries. Based on Sharma’s complaint, the N.M. Joshi Marg Police have registered a case against the dumper driver, Darshan Subhash Kasdekar (27) and arrested him. Further investigation is underway.

According to the N.M. Joshi Marg Police, the accident took place around 9:30 PM on January 30 near Birla Centurion Mill Gate No. 01 to 07. Complainant Sanket Sharma and his friend Rohan Gupta were riding a bike on Pandurang Budhkar Marg when a speeding and negligent dumper driver hit them near Birla Centurion Mill. The impact threw both riders off their bike, causing severe injuries. Gupta succumbed to his injuries on the spot, while Sharma survived with serious wounds. The police have registered a case and are continuing their investigation.

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Crime

Bengal Governor hints at taking up RG Kar case with Amit Shah

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Kolkata, Jan 31: West Bengal Governor C.V. Ananda Bose might take up the complaints of the parents of the victim in the R.G. Kar rape and murder case regarding the entire line of investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) with the office of Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

A statement issued from the office of the Governor on Friday hinted at this.

The statement comes a day after the victim’s parents, on Thursday evening, went to Raj Bhavan in Kolkata and had a long meeting with the Governor.

“The parents expressed their plight and requested justice. They requested the Hon’ble Governor to present their petition to the Hon’ble President and Hon’ble Union Home Minister, to whom they have already submitted their petition. The Hon’ble Governor assured to take necessary action,” read the statement issued from the Governor’s office in the morning.

As per the statement, the Governor also assured the victim’s parents that they were not alone in this grief and that justice in the matter would be done.

The indication from the office of the Governor comes just a day after the state president of BJP in West Bengal and the Union Minister of State Sukanta Majumdar, on Thursday, gave a somewhat similar assurance on the matter.

Majumdar, on Thursday afternoon, went to the residence of the victim’s parents and had a long meeting with them.

During the meeting, the victim’s parents claimed to have explained to Majumdar why they were unhappy with the entire investigation by the CBI. They also explained why they are against the death penalty for the sole convict in the case, Sanjay Roy.

The victim’s parents reportedly highlighted the observations made by a special court in Kolkata on the lapses in investigation by the central agency.

Confirming this, Majumdar told media persons that the victim’s parents had pointed out certain observations by the special court.

Majumdar also said the victim’s parents had complaints against one particular investigating officer.

“They have updated me on the matter and I assured them of communicating their grievances to the appropriate authorities,” Majumdar said.

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Crime

RG Kar financial case: Calcutta HC nixes Sandip Ghosh’s plea for more time before framing of charges

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Kolkata, Jan 31: The Calcutta High Court on Friday rejected the plea of the former principal of R. G. Kar Medical College and Hospital, seeking additional time before the process of framing of charges against him starts in connection with the financial irregularities in the institute.

On January 28, Calcutta High Court’s single-judge bench of Justice Tirthankar Ghosh directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to complete the process of charge-framing in the case by February 6 following which the trial could start.

However, on Friday, Ghosh’s counsel filed a petition at the same single-judge bench seeking additional time before the beginning of the trial process.

However, Justice Ghosh rejected the petition and observed that there had been a systematic delay in the beginning of the trial process in the matter.

Justice Ghosh also observed that despite CBI filing a chargesheet in November last year, there had been a delay in the beginning of the trial process.

Initially, the process of framing a charge against Ghosh could not be started because of the non-availability of a no-objection certificate (NOC) from the state government, which is mandatory for charge-framing and the beginning of the trial process against any state government employee.

However, on January 28, the CBI counsel informed Justice Ghosh’s bench that finally they secured the NOC from the state government, which cleared the decks for completing the process of charge framing and the beginning of the trial process.

Thereafter, Justice Ghosh directed CBI to complete the process of charge framing by February 6.

Besides CBI, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) is also conducting a parallel probe in the case of financial irregularities at R. G. Kar.

While CBI started its investigation following an order by the Calcutta High Court, ED made a suo motu entry to investigate the money laundering angle after filing an enforcement case information report (ECIR).

Altogether five persons, including Ghosh, his assistant-cum- bodyguard Afsar Alir, private contractors Biplab Sinha and Suman Hazra and a junior doctor Ashish Pandey, have been named by CBI in its chargesheet. All of them are in judicial custody now.

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