MUMBAI: Protests broke out at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT-Bombay) campus in Powai on Saturday following the suicide of a student who was allegedly caught using ChatGPT during an examination. The police have registered an FIR and launched an investigation. This is the fourth student suicide reported on the IIT-Bombay campus in the last five years.

The deceased was identified as Sahil Wakode, 19, a second-year BTech student in the Energy Science and Engineering department who hailed from Yavatmal district in Maharashtra. He was found hanging from the ceiling fan in his room in Hostel Number 4 on Friday evening.

In a statement, IIT-Bombay said the student was found using a mobile phone in the examination hall. “He had uploaded the examination question paper on ChatGPT to seek answers. No disciplinary action was initiated against the student. The matter was also discussed with the student by the instructor and the Head of the Department, who counselled him and assured him that the incident would not adversely affect his academic career. Later in the evening, he was found dead in his room,” the institute stated.

Meanwhile, a professor has been booked for abetment to suicide following allegations by the parents of “casteist remarks.” The parents, Ravindra Wakode and Sonali Wakode, named Prof. Suryanarayana Doolla, a faculty member who teaches and directs research in power electronics and power systems, in the FIR. They alleged casteism along with mental and physical harassment and demanded the immediate removal of IIT-Bombay Director Shireesh B. Kedare.

The Powai police station registered the FIR, and the Crime Branch-CID has joined the investigation. The case has been booked under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.