New Delhi, Jan 20 (IANS): The suicide case of Rohith Vemula, research scholar at University of Hyderabad, was not a "Dalit versus non-Dalit issue", and there was a "malicious attempt to project it as a caste battle", Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani said on Wednesday.

"There has been a malicious attempt to project the issue as a caste battle. The truth is that, it is not," the minister said at a press conference here.

Irani said the case was being "misrepresented" and that she was compelled to clear the air on it.

"I am here to clear certain misrepresentation of facts on the suicide of Rohith," she said.

"It's not a Dalit versus non-Dalit confrontation," the minister said, adding that there have been media debates suggesting that Vemula mentioned the names of people and organisations who forced him to commit suicide.

She showed a letter to the media, saying it was the only document the state police got while investigating the case.

She also read out a few lines from the letter, suggesting that there was not the case as was being alleged.