DK demands judicial probe into suicide of BU retired professor

Bengaluru: Bangalore University retired professor N S Ashok Kumar's suicide at his house on Sunday here took a political turn with Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president D K Shivakumar demanding a judicial inquiry. Shivakumar claimed that Ashok Kumar (64), who was found hanging at his Mico Layout home, paid Rs 2.5 crore to "influential people" to secure appointment as vice-chancellor of one of four new universities.

Speaking to media persons, Shivrajkumar demanded setting up of a judicial commission headed by a High Court judge to probe the 'suspicious' death of Ashok Kumar and the vice chancellor appointment racket. "His death raises many questions as Ashok borrowed loans and was made to wait 5-6 months. But he did not get the position he wanted. Therefore, he took the extreme step. The enquiry is a must to find out who all are the influential people behind this," the Congress leader said.

According to reports, on November 7 (Saturday), a day before Kumar was found dead, the state government appointed following V-Cs: Gomathi Devi L (Maharani Cluster University), Harish Ramaswamy (Raichur University), Shrinivas S Balli (Nrupathunga University) and Puttaraju (Mandya University).

Ashok Kuma, after retiring from Bangalore University where he headed the department of electronic media, became registrar of Garden City University. He also served as registrar (evaluation) of the state-run Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences and his tenure there was marred by alleged tampering of mark cards. The preliminary police report says a note was found, purportedly written by Kumar himself, stating that he was responsible for his death.