Caste issue was sidelined, son didn't write 'note': Dad

MUMBAI: In a fresh letter to the special investigation team (SIT) probing IIT Bombay student Darshan Solanki's death by suicide in February, his father, Ramesh, said on Thursday the police have sidelined the aspect of "caste discrimination" and also questioned handwriting experts' findings that the "suicide note" was in his son's writing.
The father has expressed concern over the SIT's investigation which implicated 19-year-old Arman Khatri, a fellow student whose name was found on a sheet of paper with four words written in a corner, stating, 'Arman has killed me'.It was not noticed earlier by Powai police which had first received the case.
Ramesh, Ahmedabad-based father of the deceased student, reiterated the handwriting on this paper was not that of his son according to him and his daughter Janvi. "SIT ruling out caste discrimination faced by Darshan from his classmate and roommate in light of the handwritten note which names one student (the handwriting has been disputed by me and my daughter Janvi) is concerning," said Darshan's father.
In the letter to joint commissioner (crime) of the SIT, Ramesh said they felt investigators have "sidelined" the caste discrimination issue.
The family has also made new revelations regarding a conversation between Solanki and one Sam Rajput on social media in which the latter asked Solanki about his JEE score and asked how he got into IIT-B with a low score. Solanki said Sam had figured that the former was a "quota student" and would now "not like" him. "It is telling of the fact that in Darshan's experience in IIT-B, people stopped liking him after they learnt that he was a reserved category student. This is yet another evidence of caste discrimination faced by him...," the letter added.
Speaking to TOI, Ramesh said he was not sure who Sam was, but in many of the chats, the term "wingies" is mentioned, which referred to those of the same hostel wing.
The family has again demanded copies of the content from all the seized electronic items taken by the police, including Solanki's phone, laptop and storage drive. They said the new evidence and the statement by a senior, Uday Singh Meena, all pointed to the fact that he was "harassed because of his caste".
A senior SIT officer said, "Our investigation is underway and we are still to file a chargesheet in the case, so how can the Solanki family claim the SIT is not looking at caste discrimination angle?"