The father of IIT-Madras student Fathima Latheef, who took her own life in November 2019, stated on Tuesday that he will be moving the Madras High Court over grievances related to his daughter’s death.
Fathima was found dead at her hostel on November 9 and had named three professors including Sudarshan Padmanabhan for her death. A day after the CBI took over the probe in the student’s death, Abdul Latheef appeared before the probe officials in Chennai.
Later speaking to reporters here, he alleged negligence on the part of local police when they initially investigated his daughter's death. No one was arrested and nothing was done by local police in the case, he alleged, adding he would put down in a petition all his grievances on his daughter's death and move the Madras High Court.
Hailing from Kollam in Kerala, Fathima was a first-year student of the humanities stream (five-year integrated MA programme) in IIT-Madras. Her body was found in her hostel room on November 9, police had said. She had named three professors including Sudarshan Padmanabhan for her death.
The case was initially probed by police and later transferred to the Central Crime Branch.
Later, the investigation was transferred to the CBI after Fathima's parents, along with a delegation of Kerala MPs, met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah on December 5 at Delhi.
The Special Crime Branch of the agency's unit here re-registered the FIR of the local police on December 27 and took over the investigation on Monday.
Earlier, the Central Crime Branch in Chennai that was investigating the suicide case, reportedly arrived at the conclusion that there was no evidence against the professors alleged to have instigated her to take her life. In a report submitted to the state Home department, the crime branch maintained that there was no prima facie evidence of the three professors she named, abetting the suicide.
Fathima was a first-year Humanities student at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras and was widely described as an intelligent and academically competent student.