Mumbai, Sept. 21 -- IIT Bombay on Monday suspended the deanship of Professor Suryanarayana Doolla with immediate effect and issued a formal apology retracting its earlier characterizations of the incident. The decision on suspension was taken by IIT Bombay Director Shireesh B. Kedare. The insititute also clarified that Kedare had not resigned as director as had been claimed in certain reports.

In an official communication IIT Bombay also walked back its previous claims regarding the circumstances leading up to the tragedy, acknowledging that premature assertions had inappropriately framed the events before any due investigative process was carried out.

"We apologise for the statements contained in our earlier communication concerning th...