Nearly about ten days after Union Home Minister Amit Shah asserted to launch a CBI probe into the death of Fathima Latheef- an IIT Madras student who committed suicide in the premises on November 9th, the state government of Tamil Nadu, on Saturday, had ordered to transfer the investigations that have been carried out by the Central Crime Branch to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) with accord to the order from the Central government.

The state government had issued the directive to shift the probe to the Central Investigative agency as per the notification received from the Union Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions last week that had advised the state to transfer the probe to the CBI and the order has come after a month since the mysterious death of the student, a native of Kerala. 

By citing her suicide note in which Fathima had underlined the names of three professors of her department as the reason behind her death, her family members had alleged that she could have harassed by the faculties and demanded an extensive and fair investigation to deliver justice for the deceased.

Initially, the case was under the investigations of Chennai city police after which it was transferred to the Central Crime Branch that has been probing the case currently amidst the voices that have been urging to launch an investigation under the CBI. Public Interest Litigations were filed in the Madras High court to seek the directive from the court to install a CBI team to probe the case and to investigate the deaths of 14 students who committed suicide in IIT-M campus since 2006, but on Friday, the High court bench had rejected the petitions under the grounds of lack of evidence and by dismissing the pleas, the high court bench comprised of Justices Sathyanarayan and Hemalatha had cited that the case may be transferred to CBI by considering the row of protests and the despair expressed by the family members.

The reports say that the CBI would be probing the case of Fathima's death and it won't be unleashing the investigations into the deaths of 14 students in the premises of the prestigious institution since 2006. On December 5th, 2019 Fathima's father Abdul Latheef and sister Ayisha, accompanied by the MPs from Kerala, met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah with their demand to launch CBI probe into the death, during which Amit Shah had assured the family that the case would be shifted to CBI.

On November 9th, Fathima Latheef, a native of Kerala who was pursuing her first-year postgraduate course in Humanities and Social Services had allegedly committed suicide in the premises of the institute and while it was initially told that she could have hanged herself by citing low marks in the examinations, her suicide note that was in her mobile phone had revealed that she could have been harassed by her department and by the professors. 

Also read: https://www.thenewstuff.in/justice-fathima-amit-shah-asserts-cbi-probe-death