BROTHER OF suspended student leader Manish Mahajan held on gunpoint OP Pandey, head of Sanskrit department, Lucknow University (LU) in the department in public view on Friday.
The duo—Manish and his brother Anup—threw Pandey off his chair when the latter refused to oblige them by giving admission to a particular candidate to a diploma course. Proctor AN Singh lodged a complaint with the Hassanganj police station in the matter.
The incident took place around 2:30 pm when suspended leader Manish Mahajan, his brother Anup and some others stormed inside the Sanskrit HoD’s room and demanded him to give admission to a particular candidate to a diploma course. Since admission process for diploma in Pali was already over, Pandey refused to oblige. “Moreover, the candidate did not have the minimum qualification required for the course,” Pandey said.
When the HoD refused, the duo tried to browbeat Pandey. They threw him off his chair and beat him up. Says Pandey: “In the meantime, Manish’s brother Anup whipped a firearm from his pocket and trained it at me. He almost pulled the trigger.”
According to Pandey, the incident took place in the presence of several staff members of his office. Thereafter, the duo and other assailants left the HoD’s room.
Pandey did not waste any time and rushed to the proctor’s office where he lodged a written complaint that was forwarded immediately to Hassangaj police station.
{{/usCountry}}Pandey did not waste any time and rushed to the proctor’s office where he lodged a written complaint that was forwarded immediately to Hassangaj police station.
{{/usCountry}}According to proctor AN Singh, no sooner was the incident brought to his knowledge than he, along with other members of his office, went in search of Mahajan and his brother on the campus. But they could not locate them.
The proctor stated that stern action would be initiated against the culprits.
According to Pandey, in his 30 years of teaching experience, this was the first time an incident of this nature took place. “It has left me shocked and devastated,” says the HoD.
He confirmed that most of the admissions to the Diploma in Pali course were bogus as candidates who sought admission to that course were never interested in the course. Most of them sought admission with an intention to contest the student union elections.