Following the circulation of security camera footage from the examination hall at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay—where second-year B.Tech. student Sahil Wakode was caught using a mobile phone during his examination—a flurry of assertions surfaced across social media platforms attempting to dismiss the visual record as fraudulent or computer-generated.

Multiple self-described pro-Dalit commentators on X contended that Wakode was never using a smartphone at all, arguing instead that he was merely handling a calculator or a geometry box, tools that were routinely being used by other examinees in the hall.

These online critics alleged that “caste Hindus” alongside the “Manu Media” were systematically generating and propagating disinformation around the recorded clips. According to their posts, the student was simply relying on standard academic instruments—specifically an approved scientific calculator or a geometry box—in the exact manner of his peers, rather than accessing a forbidden handheld device.

Stepping further into technical conjecture, an Ambedkarite account on X publicly claimed that the surveillance broadcast across several television news channels had actually been “AI-generated” to manufacture an artificial narrative.

Another account on X maintained that a careful viewing of the recorded frames tells an entirely different story. According to this user's interpretation, the footage merely shows that Wakode had peacefully concluded his paper, handed his answer booklet over to the invigilator, collected his stationery, and departed the hall. In an attempt to dismiss every allegation of exam malpractice, the post further reasoned that no candidate would ever have the audacity to cheat inside a premier institute like IIT Bombay while seated right at the front of the room, and that Wakode, by that logic, could not possibly have engaged in unfair means.

These speculative claims quickly accumulated online, casting doubt on the authenticity of the surveillance tapes and offering premature conclusions regarding the painful sequence of events preceding the young student's demise. Yet, an objective examination of the actual camera recording challenges these partisan narratives advanced by commentators using the tragedy to fuel broader social friction.

The video captures Sahil Wakode seated at a desk directly in the front row of the hall, bending forward and repeatedly directing his gaze down toward his lap as he writes on his script. A calculator along with other stationery items is clearly resting openly on the surface of his desk throughout the period he looks downward. Noticing these repeated, suspicious movements, the invigilator steps in and interrupts him. At that point, Wakode hands over a mobile phone to the invigilator. He subsequently gathers the remaining belongings sitting on his desktop and walks out of the examination room behind the instructor.

This visual timeline aligns directly with the official sequence earlier detailed by the IIT Bombay administration, which confirmed that Sahil Wakode had been intercepted using a mobile phone during his test on September 18, 2026. The invigilator on duty, Professor Suryanarayana Doolla, instructed the student to vacate the exam hall. Administrative officials noted that the student was subsequently provided counselling and that no formal disciplinary penalties were enacted against him at that stage. Tragically, just hours after leaving the hall, Wakode was found dead in his hostel quarters.

His passing provoked immediate outrage across the campus, prompting demonstrations and sit-ins organized by leftist student organizations. Wakode’s family stepped forward to allege that he had been subjected to severe caste-based prejudice and harassment by Professor Doolla and other institute members, claiming that this sustained hostility ultimately drove him to suicide. Acting on the family's formal complaint, the Mumbai Police registered a First Information Report (FIR) naming Professor Doolla and others under provisions pertaining to abetment of suicide as well as the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. The investigation was subsequently entrusted to the Mumbai Police Crime Branch.

While intense public discourse has continued to frame Wakode's death around systematic institutional prejudice, records indicate that throughout his academic stay at IIT Bombay, not a single formal complaint regarding caste discrimination had ever been lodged against Professor Suryanarayana Doolla or the institute's Director, Professor Shireesh Kedare, either through general administrative channels or with the official IIT Bombay SC/ST Cell.