Odisha professor accused of sodomy grilled by dept committee

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Apr 16:

The assistant professor of OUAT’s Basic Science College accused of sexually harassing male students was grilled by a three-member departmental investigation committee of the university in Odisha capital yesterday.

The professor, who had earlier been served a notice by college authorities and was asked to cooperate with the investigation, had been on the run to escape the questioning. He, however, came to the DSW office of the university for the questioning at about 11 AM yesterday.

While the questioning of the students went on for hours, the professor was allowed to go only after 90 minutes making the students question the authenticity of the investigation. He also quickly escaped from the spot upon seeing media representatives outside the questioning hall.

The students, on the other hand, have been threatening not to allow the university to function if action is not taken against the accused professor by April 20.

Earlier, the committee members had met and questioned the victim students, who recently accused the professor of sodomy on April 13.

“We are conducting a thorough investigation and the assistant professor has answered all our questions. We will question the students and the professor again and continue the investigation. However, we would not be able to take any action by April 20,” said member of the investigation committee Professor RK Dash.