Police begin probe into IIIT-A ex-research fellow’s suicide case

The investigation is underway. We have called Prof Anupam Agarwal to get his stand on the allegations levelled by Parmatma Yadav’s family. SHRISH CHANDRA, circle officer (Civil Lines), Allahabad

ALLAHABAD: Police have begun investigation into the suicide case of Parmatma Yadav, a former project research fellow at the Indian Institute of Information Technology, Allahabad (IIIT-A).

The young researcher had committed suicide on August 28 at his rented accommodation in Rajrooppur where he used to live with his wife and mother.

After the incident, his family had refused permission for postmortem examination and had submitted a written undertaking to the police before taking the body to Gorakhpur for cremation. The police swung into action after Parmatma Yadav’s elder brother Avneesh Yadav met Allahabad SSP Sureshrao A Kulkarni on August 31 evening and claimed that a day before the suicide Parmatma had claimed he was being harassed by dean (academic and research) Prof Anupam Agarwal.

Parmatma, a resident of Mahavir village of Gorakhpur, had been working as a research fellow under a project sponsored by the department of science and technology (DST), New Delhi, for the past three years. The project was sanctioned to Prof Agarwal, who recently took over as the institute’s dean (academic and research). The SSP handed over the inquiry into the incident to circle officer, Civil Lines, Shrish Chandra. The CO visited the IIIT-A campus on September 2 and stayed there for three hours.

Chandra also visited the lab where Parmatma used to work. He also spoke to researchers and officials of the institute.

Later, the police sealed the almirah in which Parmatma used to keep his documents.

IIIT-A has also set up a probe panel to look into the allegations against dean (academic and research) Prof Anupam Agarwal who has been accused of withholding Parmatma’s documents.

The four-member probe panel is headed by dean (human affairs) Prof US Tiwary and has chief proctor Manish Goswami, dean (infrastructure, planning and resource management) Prof Shekhar Verma and associate dean (admission, assessment and award) Neetesh Purohit as members.

On August 30, the institute appointed senior faculty member Prof Tapobrata Lahiri as the new dean (academic and research) of the institute in place of Prof Agarwal, who was also relieved from the post of chief vigilance officer (part-time).

Prof Agarwal maintained that the documents were with him as Yadav was yet to submit a ‘no dues’ certificate from the institute despite repeated requests and the fact that the project had ended over two-and-a-half months ago on June 10.

Meanwhile, Prof Agarwal is said to have received some threat calls .