IIT Bombay Case: When Catching a Cheater Becomes a Caste Crime
Catching a student cheating in an examination hall has landed a senior IIT Bombay professor facing an FIR under the SC/ST Act and charges of abetment to suicide. The case shows how quickly routine academic discipline can be twisted into a criminal caste issue, destroying a career overnight.
The IncidentÂ
On 18 September 2026, Sahil Wakode, a second year BTech Energy Science student from the reserved category, was caught using his mobile phone during a mid semester examination. The institute confirmed that he had uploaded the question paper to ChatGPT to generate answers. The invigilator on duty was Professor Suryanarayana Doolla from the Department of Energy Science and Engineering.
The professor followed standard procedure and asked the student to leave the hall. No formal disciplinary action was initiated. The course instructor and the Head of the Department counselled the student immediately after, reassuring him that this single incident would not destroy his academic career. Hours later, the student died by suicide in his hostel room.
The very next day, the matter took a complete turn. The student’s father filed a police complaint alleging that Professor Doolla had been subjecting his son to casteist abuse for the past three months, claiming this was done under instructions from the IIT Bombay Director. The police promptly registered a case of abetment to suicide and applied sections of the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act, transferring the investigation to the Crime Branch. Calls for monetary compensation under the Act followed shortly after.
Facts vs the Allegations
IIT Bombay has firmly rejected the claims of caste discrimination. The Director clarified that student caste data is strictly hidden from faculty members and administrative staff.
More importantly, the institute SC/ST Cell confirmed that Sahil Wakode had never filed a single complaint regarding caste abuse or harassment during his entire tenure at the institute. There is zero paper trail of prior hostility, yet a senior academic now faces a law with a reverse burden of proof and the looming threat of immediate arrest.
The Professor Under Attack
Professor Suryanarayana Doolla spent decades building an impeccable academic record:
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BTech in Electrical Engineering
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MTech in Energy Systems from IIT Bombay
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PhD in Power Systems from IIT Delhi
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Former Dean of Student Affairs at IIT Bombay
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Organising Chairman for JEE Advanced
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Winner of multiple teaching excellence and international IEEE awards
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Widely published researcher in smart grids and microgrids
Decades of academic service and merit have been set aside without a preliminary inquiry because of a single retaliatory complaint.
The Weaponisation of Special Laws
This case exposes the real world consequence of how the SC/ST Act operates in practice. The law was enacted to address genuine historical atrocities, but it has increasingly become a tool to settle administrative disputes, cover up personal misconduct, and target individuals in positions of authority.
When an invigilator cannot enforce basic exam rules without risking a non bailable criminal case, academic standards collapse. General category faculty members are left vulnerable to accusations that carry an immediate presumption of guilt and permanent professional ruin.
Enforcing honesty in an exam hall is the primary duty of an academic. If penalising a student caught cheating with artificial intelligence can be reframed as caste harassment, institutional discipline in India is practically dead.