IIT Jodhpur assistant professor held for assaulting director during departmental meeting

Police have arrested an assistant professor of IIT Jodhpur for allegedly abusing and manhandling the director of the institution during a departmental meeting, officials said on Thursday.

The teacher was released on bail. However, later in the evening, the IIT administration suspended the teacher.

A dispute between Director Avinash Kumar Agrawal and Assistant Professor Deepak Kumar Arora (Chemical Engineering) erupted during the meeting on Wednesday morning. It led to a heated argument between the two. The verbal spat soon turned violent as Arora assaulted Agrawal. Both suffered injuries in the incident.

SHO (Karwad) Lekhraj Siyag said that both the director and the professor have filed counter-FIRs against each other, and an investigation has been initiated.

“Registrar Ankur Gupta lodged a complaint on behalf of Director Avinash Kumar Agrawal against Assistant Professor Deepak Kumar Arora, accusing him of assault, obstructing government work, and using caste-related slurs to insult him. The complaint states that Arora attacked Director Agrawal, causing an injury to his foot,” Siyag said.

On the other hand, Arora also lodged an FIR against the director and his associates, accusing them of wrongful confinement, obstruction of official duties, and assault.

According to sources, when the staff from the director’s office tried to intervene, Arora also assaulted an employee, who sustained an injury to his arm. He allegedly used caste-based slurs against him and threatened to eliminate him and his family.

The sources said that Arora’s violent outburst was sparked when the director complained about the non-performance of his department in the past five years.

However, Arora countered him, saying that even the IIT had not achieved any milestone under his stewardship since his joining as the director of the institution.