Odisha varsity V-C booked for abetment to suicide

A contractual employee allegedly doused himself with petrol before setting himself afire inside the V-C’s chamber. He was referred to Cuttack for treatment but succumbed to his 90% burn injuries on the way

Published on: Apr 22, 2021, 13:53:49 IST

By Debabrata Mohanty

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The Odisha police have booked three people, including the vice-chancellor (V-C) of a university in the Sambalpur district, for allegedly abetting the suicide of a contractual employee on Tuesday. The employee allegedly doused himself with petrol before setting himself afire inside the V-C’s chamber. He was referred to Cuttack for treatment but succumbed to his 90% burn injuries on the way.

The employee had been working as a technical assistant at the university since 1993, but his service was not regularised despite several requests.

Sambalpur police superintendent B Gangadhar said the V-C and the two others would be interrogated.

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The V-C allegedly humiliated the employee for apparently leaking the information of the felling of trees in front of the university’s administrative building.

The employee earlier wrote a letter to the registrar of the university accusing the V-C of abusing him over felling of trees and leaking the news to the local media. “He used filthy words against me. He threatened to throw me out from the hostel and accused me of stealing some furniture. When I asked him for proof, he threw me out of his room,” the employee wrote in the letter. He added as an underpaid employee, he was being unfairly targeted by the V-C. “I am going to commit suicide today if the vice-chancellor does not apologise in front of all employees as he has accused me without any fault of mine.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Debabrata Mohanty
Debabrata Mohanty is a senior assistant editor of Hindustan Times who works as state correspondent from Odisha covering the state's politics, governance, public policy, natural disasters, environment and its society for close to three decades. With his long years of reporting from the state capital of Bhubaneswar, Mohanty has been known as one of the most experienced and credible journalists covering Odisha for the national English dailies. His reporting combines on-ground detail with deep institutional knowledge detailing the state's changing politics, governance issues, administrative reforms and the functioning of its public institutions. He has regularly reported on issues ranging from legislative developments and public policy implementation. Politics is his core areas of expertise as he closely tracks Odisha's political landscape, including the rise and transformation of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), the two principal political parties in Odisha. His long association with the state's political establishment enables him to write on contemporary developments in a larger political context. Mohanty takes a deep interest in writing human interest stories, environmental issues and documenting the impact of cyclones, floods, heatwaves, and other climate-related events in one of the most disaster-prone states. His coverage extends to public health, governance reforms and stories on accountability of government institutions. Before joining Hindustan Times, Mohanty worked with The Indian Express, Mail Today, and The Telegraph, where he covered at least six general elections and as many assembly elections. In 2007, he was selected for the prestigious Chevening Young Indian Print Journalist Programme at the University of Lincoln, United Kingdom, where he received advanced training in print journalism. In 2009 he won the Press Institute of India-International Committee of Red Cross award on conflict reporting for his on-ground reportage of 2008 Kandhamal riots.Read More

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