PM Has Assured CBI Probe into IIT Madras Student Fathima Latheef's Suicide, Says Kerala MP

Kochi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah have assured a group of MPs that CBI will investigate the recent suicide of a girl student at the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras, RSP leader N K Premachandran, MP, said on Thursday.

Talking to PTI over phone from New Delhi, Premachandran also said both Modi and Shah have also informed the MPs that the government is thinking of ordering a CBI probe into the "mysterious deaths and torturing" happening in higher educational institutions in the country.

The MPs met Modi and Shah separately.

"Both the PM and Home minister have informed us that the suicide of Madras IIT student Fathima Latheef will be investigated by CBI. The investigation will be led by an Inspector General rank woman officer,"the Kollam MP said.

The Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) leader said the MPs met Modi and Shah along with Fathima Latheef's father and sister who hail from Kollam in Kerala. A memorandum seeking a CBI probe into the case was handed over to the Prime Minister and Home Minister by the MPs.

"Congress leader Rahul Gandhi representing Wayanad constituency in the Lok Sabha is the first signatory in the memorandum," Premachandran said.

The crime branch wing of the Tamil Nadu police is now investigating the suicide of Fathima Latheef, a first year Humanities student, on November 9. The incident had sparked protests in Chennai, with opposition parties including the Dravida Munnetra Kazagham, demanding a "transparent" investigation into the death.

Earlier, the student's father Latheef had met Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami and the state police chief at Chennai and demanded a fair probe. He has raised several questions and expressed suspicion over a number of aspects related to his daughters death.

The family had earlier met Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan seeking his intervention.