BHOPAL: Madhya Pradesh Governor Balram Jakhar has condemned the assault leading to the death of H.S. Sabharwal, a professor at Ujjain's Madhav College on August 26.

Leader of the Opposition in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly, Jamuna Devi, had led a Congress delegation and submitted a memorandum to the Governor on August 31 urging him to sanction the prosecution of State Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan, on the charge that he had tried to influence the CID investigation into Sabharwal's death by publicly stating that the professor's death should not be treated as murder.

When contacted, a Raj Bhavan source told The Hindu that the Governor has sought legal opinion on the Congress demand to prosecute the Chief Minister. The State Government has also submitted a brief report to the Governor on the Madhav College incident that was sparked off when college authorities decided to cancel the students' union election.

The Ujjain police on Monday arrested four National Students' Union of India activists on a charge of inciting violence and causing riots during the college elections on August 26.

The two Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad leaders, who were earlier arrested under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (murder), have been sent to judicial custody.

A police source said on Monday evening that CID investigations are on in the Professor Sabharwal case.

When asked about the possibility of further arrests under Section 302 IPC, he said that some more names have cropped up and the police were trying to collect evidence.

In other cases registered by the Ujjain police for violence and rioting, 24 NSUI activists, seven of those belonging to the ABVP and 1 from the Disha Kisan Chhaatra Sangh, who were arrested earlier, have so far been granted bail.

The Congress has given a call for a state-wide bandh on Tuesday coinciding with Teachers' Day.

The ABVP has taken the stand that ABVP activists were being wrongly implicated in this case. Asserting this, ABVP's national organisation secretary, Sunil Ambekar said at a press conference here on Monday that they were prepared for any kind of investigation.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail