IIT-Madras student suicide case: Father says Shah has assured him of CBI probe

The father of a 19-year-old woman, who allegedly committed suicide at IIT-Madras, said he met Union Home Minster Amit Shah on Thursday and was told that the CBI will be asked to investigate the case.

The Tamil Nadu Police's Crime Branch is probing the November 9 suicide case of Fathima Latheef, a resident of Kerala.

Abdul Latheef and his wife Sajitha met Shah on the Parliament's premises on Thursday along with a delegation of MPs from Kerala.

Speaking to reporters, Abdul Latheef said Shah told him that the investigation would be conducted by a woman CBI officer of the inspector general level.

Kerala MP N K Premachandran, who led the delegation, claimed that Shah also conveyed to them that the probe would look into the issue of mental harassment and pressure on students by IITs and other similar educational institutions.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Shah have assured the MPs that the CBI will investigate the suicide case, he said.

The woman's parents thanked Modi and Shah for assuring them of a CBI probe into the incident.

Fathima Latheef , a native of Kollam in Kerala, in her suicide note, blamed harassment from a particular professor of the institution as being reason for her death.

The 19-year-old, who was pursuing her first-year under-graduation in humanities, allegedly committed suicide by hanging herself from a ceiling fan.

Abdul Latheef had alleged in Chennai immediately after his daughter's death that he had evidence to prove that Fathima was being harassed by some professors in her department of Humanities and Social Sciences.

He wanted a fair probe as he was concerned that her phone may be tampered with. The family found Fathima's suicide notes on her mobile phone. She had allegedly named professors from her department in the notes she wrote before her death in her mobile phone.