JNU student Muthukrishnan's death: Nirmala Sitharaman asks to register FIR under SC/ST Act

Union Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday asked the Delhi police to register an FIR under the SC/ST Act and start the probe in the suspected death of Jawaharlal Nehru (JNU) PhD student Muthukrishnan Jeevanantham.

"I have given an instruction to the Delhi Police to register an FIR under the SC/ST Act by this afternoon and then let the post-mortem happen," Sitharaman said.

She further said that to not delay any further which is the demand of the students and also asked to register all the statements.

Earlier, the JNU students during Sitharaman's visit to the campus asked her as to why the Delhi Police had not yet registered any FIR or initiated any tangible action in this regard.

A PhD scholar of the JNU allegedly committed suicide in the Munirka Vihar area here late on Monday evening.

According to the Delhi Police, Jeevanantham was depressed over personal issues, though no suicide note was found near his body.

There was no evidence that he killed himself due to any issues at the university.

Reportedly, Jeevanantham had come to his friends' house to have food.

He later said that he wanted to sleep and locked himself inside a room.

The PhD student, however, in his Facebook post on March 10 mentioned about discrimination against Dalits.

"There is no Equality in M.Phil/PhD Admission, there is no equality in Viva-voce, there is only denial of equality. When equality is denied everything is denied," the post said.

He was active in the 'Justice for Rohit Vemula' movement last year and was a part of the Ambedkar Students' Association (ASA) at the University of Hyderabad.

PhD student Rohith Vemula had killed himself at the University of Hyderabad after alleged caste-based discrimination, inciting protests across the country.