india

Updated: Oct 21, 2019 21:07 IST

The police in Andhra Pradesh’s Guntur district on Sunday arrested Vice-Chancellor of Acharya N G Ranga Agricultural University (ANGRAU) Vallabhaneni Damodar Naidu under SC/ST Atrocities (Prevention) Act for allegedly abusing a former tribal employee.

Naidu was produced in a local court on Monday and was remanded in judicial custody for two weeks. However, he was granted bail by the high court later in the evening.

The case was booked by Thullur police following a complaint from one U Muralikrishna, who had earlier worked as an attendant on outsourcing basis in the university between 2014 and 2019. He was dismissed in April 2019, allegedly without any prior notice, on the charges of being irregular to the duties.

Thullur police inspector M V Subba Rao told Hindustan Times that as per the complaint, Muralikrishna had been requesting the Vice Chancellor to restore his job for quite some time.

“However, Naidu had been rejecting his request. A few days ago, Muralikrishna met him outside the state assembly in Velagapudi along with his friend. However, he refused to entertain Muralikrishna’s request,” Rao said.

Muralikrishna straightaway lodged a complaint with Deputy Superintendent of Police Y Srinivas Reddy, alleging that the Vice-Chancellor had abused him taking his caste name. “The DSP in turn passed on the complaint to the Thullur police station and we booked a case, after obtaining the CCTV footage from the spot,” the inspector said.

Naidu had held several positions, including the Head of Agricultural Research Station, Nellore and head of Plant Pathology Department.

The Telugu Desam Party took serious objection to the arrest of the Vice-Chancellor. “How can the police arrest a Vice Chancellor without the consent of Governor, who is the chancellor of the university?” asked former minister K S Jawahar.

TDP official spokesman and MLC P Ashok Babu also described it atrocious to arrest a Vice-Chancellor. “This is a conspiracy by the government to send Naidu out of the university, as he was appointed by the TDP government. What is the necessity for a Vice-Chancellor to abuse an attendant with a caste name?” he asked.