Sahil Wakode’s parents were detained by Mumbai Police in Bhandup on Thursday morning while they were on their way to the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay campus in Powai, their lawyer Nikhil Kamble has alleged. According to police, the couple wanted to stage a protest outside the IIT campus, but officials were trying to persuade them to hold it at Azad Maidan instead.

Kamble said the Wakode couple was travelling towards the IIT Bombay campus when they were detained by the police. Kamble also said that the couple was detained at Bhandup police station for almost an hour or so. They were released later.

Kamble said, they were later taken to the government guest house to meet officials from the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Commission.

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“The parents were on their way to IIT Bombay campus in Powai. But police have detained them in Bhandup police station. We fear that they will not be allowed to head to Powai. Instead the police are now taking the parents to the government’s Sahyadri guest house to meet officials from the SC/ST Commission,” Kamble said.

A police official said Sahil’s parents had been told that they had permission to stage their protest at Mumbai’s Azad Maidan but were insisting on holding it outside the IIT Bombay campus. Police were trying to convince them to shift the venue, the official said. Sahil’s parents will now go to Azad Maidan to protest.

The development comes days after Sahil, a second-year BTech student at IIT Bombay, died by suicide on September 18. His parents have alleged that he faced caste-based discrimination on campus.

Based on his father’s complaint, Powai Police have registered an FIR naming Professor Suryanarayana Doolla who was the invigilator for the exam where Sahil was allegedly found using a phone during mid-semester exam last week.

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Sahil’s parents have demanded that police should immediately arrest those they hold responsible for their son’s death. Earlier, his father Ravindra Wakode had warned about starting a hunger strike outside the IIT Bombay gate if no one is arrested in the suicide case.

On Wednesday, Sahil’s parents alleged that they were forcibly moved out of Mumbai.