City Crime Branch police to inquire IIT-Madras student suicide


Chennai: City Police Commissioner A K Viswanathan visited the IIT-Madras campus this morning to conduct a probe into the suicide of first year student Fathima Lathif.

Days after her suicide, screenshots on her phone showed that she was allegedly harassed by a professor in the college based on her religion.

Fathima, who was perusing her masters in Humanities and Development Studies joined IIT-Madras in August. In the recently conducted internals, she had topped in all subjects, except for one. On 9 November, she ended her life in the college hostel.

Initially it was speculated she committed suicide due to academic stress.

This morning, Viswanathan inspected her hostel room and questioned a few persons. He was at the campus from 11.30 to 1.30 pm. Following which, he said that the City Crime Branch (CCB) would conduct an inquiry into the case.

The investigation would be led by Additional Commissioner, CCB, C Eswaramoorthy and supervised by Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC) Nehalina.

Nearly 11 persons including four professors were inquired by the police.

Earlier, Abdul Lathif, Fathima’s father had claimed that the police have not conducted a fair probe and demanded inquiry by the top investigation agency.