Mumbai, Oct. 20 -- More than 175 former students of the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (IIT-B) on Monday appealed to political parties to stay away from the campus. The campus must remain a space dedicated to education, research, innovation, and intellectual growth, free from political interference, they said in a media statement. They also expressed concern over ongoing protests against the suicide of an IIT-B student and political involvement in the same, fearing these could affect the studies of nearly 12,000 students. The alumni urged the police to speed up the investigation into the alleged suicide and other recent incidents on campus, and establish the facts through a fair and timely process. Separately, a group of undergraduate students at IIT-B, under the banner of IIT-B for Bharat, issued a statement on X raising concerns over campus security, political involvement in protests and disruptions in academic activities. It asked if the protest was still focussed on justice or was being influenced by wider political interests. niraj pandit...