CCTV footage emerges in IIT-Bombay student death case

CCTV footage from an IIT-Bombay classroom appears to show student Sahil Wakode looking at a device concealed beneath his right thigh during an examination and handing it over when asked by Professor Suryanarayana Doolla, before leaving the hall. No altercation is visible. Wakode, a second-year BTech student from Yavatmal, was found dead in his Powai hostel room on Friday. Police booked Doolla under the SC/ST Act and BNS Section 108 after a family complaint.

Written by AI from CNN-News18 · not yet reviewed by an editor · Published 23 Sept 2026, 11:02 pm IST

Source

CNN-News18 · read the original report ↗

#iit bombay#sahil wakode#cctv footage#caste allegations#police probe

Desk check · some claims need care

What the desk checked (5)

CCTV footage shows Sahil Wakode looking at a device beneath his right thigh and handing it to Professor Suryanarayana Doolla, with no visible altercation. — Source describes footage accessed by CNN-News18; described in hedged terms ('appears to show'), not independently verifiable here.
Mumbai Police booked Doolla under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and Section 108 of the BNS for abetment of suicide after a family complaint. — Attributed to police action following family complaint; figures and sections appear in source.
Wakode's parents allege he was repeatedly targeted by Doolla over three months. — Attributed to the parents; allegation remains untested.
Wakode, a second-year BTech student from Yavatmal, was found hanging in his Powai hostel room on Friday hours after allegedly being caught using a phone to access ChatGPT. — Stated in source with hedge 'allegedly' on the cheating element; no investigating official named.
Doolla has been removed as dean of administrative affairs and sent on leave. — Stated in source without named institutional source.

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Analysts’ view opinion

AI Political Analyst

This case has already moved from being a criminal investigation to a political test, and the CCTV footage arms both sides without settling the argument for either. Caste-harassment allegations, an SC/ST Act case and the death of a Dalit student sit at the most sensitive core of social-justice politics; on the other side, faculty backing for the professor pushes an institutional-reputation and due-process argument. Given the weight of Dalit politics in Maharashtra, the state machinery faces simultaneous pressure to act fast and criticism that it acted too fast.

The family's hunger-strike threat and campus protests are lifting the case from courtroom to street politics, which typically pushes administrators toward visible, rapid action.
Removing Doolla as dean and sending him on leave is not a finding of guilt, but politically it signals 'action taken' — and that is precisely what is unsettling sections of the faculty.
The absence of any visible altercation on camera strengthens the professor's supporters, yet it does not disprove the family's claim of three months of targeting — both camps will read the same clip differently.
Invocation of the SC/ST Act is perennially polarising: a necessary shield to some, prone to misuse to others, and this case will pull that national debate back to the surface.
Questions over IIT-Bombay retracting its initial statement turn institutional credibility into a political issue in itself, feeding the autonomy-versus-outside-pressure argument.

What to watch — Watch what the additional footage from outside the exam hall shows and whether police move to arrest — that single decision will set the intensity of the political reaction from Dalit organisations and faculty bodies alike.

The story does not establish whether the caste-slur allegations are true or what caused the death; the investigation is ongoing and nothing has been proved against anyone.

Deep dive

Research brief · 8 facts · 6 dates · exam-ready

The brief

Context

Sahil Wakode, a second-year BTech student in the Department of Energy Science and Engineering at IIT-Bombay, from Yavatmal district in Maharashtra, was found hanging in his hostel room on the Powai campus on a Friday evening. This was hours after he was allegedly caught using a mobile phone to access ChatGPT during a mid-semester examination. His family alleged caste-based harassment by Professor Suryanarayana Doolla over three months, and Mumbai Police booked the professor under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and Section 108 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita for abetment of suicide. CCTV footage from the examination hall, accessed by CNN-News18, has now surfaced and is being examined alongside other footage.

Key facts

CCTV footage from an IIT-Bombay classroom shows Sahil Wakode repeatedly looking down towards a device concealed beneath his right thigh during an examination.
The footage shows Professor Suryanarayana Doolla, on a round of the hall, approaching Wakode and asking him to hand over the object; Wakode complies and leaves with his papers, books and water bottle.
The footage does not appear to show any confrontation or altercation inside the examination hall; other students notice Wakode only when he gets up to leave.
Wakode, a second-year BTech student of the Department of Energy Science and Engineering from Yavatmal district, was found hanging in his Powai campus hostel room on Friday evening.
He was allegedly caught using a mobile phone to access ChatGPT during a mid-semester examination hours before his death.
Mumbai Police booked Doolla under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and Section 108 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, relating to abetment of suicide, after a complaint by Sahil's family.
Wakode's parents allege he was repeatedly targeted by Doolla over a period of three months.
Doolla has been removed as dean of administrative affairs at IIT-Bombay and sent on leave.

Timeline

Over about three months before the death (as alleged by parents)Wakode was allegedly repeatedly targeted by Professor Doolla.
Friday, during a mid-semester examinationWakode was allegedly caught using a mobile phone to access ChatGPT; CCTV shows him handing over a device to Doolla and leaving the hall.
Friday evening, hours laterWakode was found hanging in his hostel room on the Powai campus.
After the family's complaintMumbai Police booked Doolla under the SC/ST Act and BNS Section 108; he was removed as dean of administrative affairs and sent on leave.
SubsequentlyCrime Branch took over the probe; police are examining additional CCTV footage from outside the examination hall.
September 23, 2026 (report first published)CCTV footage from the classroom accessed and reported by CNN-News18.

Who has a stake

Sahil Wakode's family — Allege caste-based harassment over three months, demand the professor's arrest, and have threatened a hunger strike.
Professor Suryanarayana Doolla — Booked under the SC/ST Act and BNS Section 108; removed as dean of administrative affairs and sent on leave pending investigation.
IIT-Bombay administration — Faces questions over campus climate, handling of exam malpractice, and its decision to retract an initial statement.
Mumbai Police / Crime Branch — Must establish what happened after Wakode left the hall and test both the caste-harassment allegation and the malpractice claim.
IITs and faculty associations — Several IITs and faculty bodies have backed Doolla and seek his reinstatement if the investigation clears him.
SC/ST students in higher education — The case is a test of institutional mechanisms against caste discrimination and of academic-pressure support systems.

Why it matters

A student death on an elite campus has become a contest between two serious claims: caste-based harassment by a faculty member and examination malpractice by the student, with criminal law now invoked on one side and CCTV evidence on the other. How the probe and the institute handle it will shape trust in IIT grievance mechanisms for SC/ST students, and in due process for faculty facing atrocity-law charges.

UPSC angle

Prelims pointers

Section 108 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) deals with abetment of suicide.
The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act was invoked against Professor Suryanarayana Doolla after a family complaint.
Sahil Wakode was a second-year BTech student of the Department of Energy Science and Engineering, IIT-Bombay (Powai campus), from Yavatmal district, Maharashtra.
The Mumbai Police Crime Branch took over the probe into the IIT-Bombay student death.
Doolla was removed as dean of administrative affairs at IIT-Bombay and sent on leave.
The alleged exam malpractice involved using a mobile phone to access ChatGPT during a mid-semester examination.

Mains framing

The IIT-Bombay death of Sahil Wakode illustrates how a single campus incident can fuse three distinct governance problems: alleged caste discrimination in elite higher education, academic and examination pressure on students, and the evidentiary burden of atrocity and abetment-of-suicide provisions. The family alleges three months of targeting and caste slurs, leading police to book Professor Doolla under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and BNS Section 108; the classroom CCTV, however, shows a device concealed under the student's thigh, its handover on request, and no visible altercation, while police examine further footage from outside the hall to reconstruct what followed. Commentators cited in the story pull in opposite directions: that the footage does not clear all allegations but questions the institute's retracted statement; that the real lesson is how students cope with academic demands rather than "casteist politics"; and that a cleared professor should be reinstated with respect. The way forward suggested by the facts on record is a fact-led Crime Branch probe using all footage and testimony, institutional consistency in public communication, credible and confidential anti-discrimination and mental-health grievance channels on campus, and proportionate, non-humiliating handling of exam malpractice, so that neither student dignity nor faculty due process is sacrificed.

Key terms

SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act: Law against caste-based atrocities on Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, invoked here against Professor Doolla on the family's complaint.
BNS Section 108: Provision of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita relating to abetment of suicide, under which the professor has been booked.
Dean of administrative affairs: Senior administrative post at IIT-Bombay from which Doolla was removed after the case; he was also sent on leave.
Crime Branch: Specialised investigation wing of Mumbai Police that took over the probe into the student's death.
Mid-semester examination: The IIT-Bombay test during which Wakode was allegedly caught using a mobile phone to access ChatGPT.

Practice questions

Examine how caste-based discrimination allegations in premier higher education institutions test both anti-atrocity law and institutional grievance mechanisms, with reference to the IIT-Bombay case.
Discuss the role of electronic evidence such as CCTV footage in investigations involving abetment of suicide, and the challenges in balancing complainants' claims with the accused's right to due process.
Student suicides in elite technical institutions are often framed as either caste harassment or academic pressure. Critically evaluate this binary and suggest institutional reforms.

Grounded only in the source report — figures and dates are the source's, not inferred.

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