The Mumbai Police on Sunday arrested a batchmate of a Dalit student of the Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay who had died by suicide in February, PTI reported.

Arman Khatri, 19, was arrested on the charge of abetment to the suicide of Darshan Solanki on February 12.

Solanki was a first-year student in the Bachelor in Technology (Chemical) course at the institution. His family had claimed that he faced caste discrimination at the institute. However, an inquiry committee set up by IIT-Bombay had dismissed the claims and hinted at “deteriorating academic performance” as the reason for Solanki’s death.

On Sunday, the police said that a suicide note naming Khatri had been found in Solanki’s room. He was arrested after a handwriting analysis confirmed that the note had been written by Solanki.

The police said that Khatri had allegedly threatened Solanki with a cutter after the Dalit student had made some communal remarks, according to The Indian Express.

“Since then, Solanki was petrified and also apologised to Khatri on a couple of occasions and the two had hugged as well. However, it appears that Solanki continued to be scared,” an unidentified officer told the newspaper.

The officer stated that Khatri was not cooperating when asked about the reason that led to the fight between him and Solanki. “We arrested him so that we can question him and get the exact sequence of events,” he added.

Another unidentified officer said that investigators have so far not found evidence of caste discrimination in the case.

The deceased student’s father, Rameshbhai Solanki, said that the family is only hoping for a just inquiry, reported The Hindu.

“The police had shown us a question paper with the words ‘Armaan has killed me’ scribbled on the back,” he said. “We could not place the handwriting and now forensic experts have confirmed it.”

On March 30, Rameshbhai Solanki had alleged that the city police were harassing his family and refusing to file a first information report in the case.

In a letter to Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, he had said that his family was “completely shocked and disheartened” by the attitude of the police and the members of a Special Investigation Team.

“Their demeanour does not inspire any confidence in us and is suspect to say the least,” he wrote. “We are apprehensive that the SIT is attempting to sideline and divert the investigation from the angle of caste discrimination faced by Darshan.”