Two Delhi University professors have been summoned by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in connection with the Bhima Koregaon probe. This comes days after another DU professor, Hany Babu, was arrested by the agency over the same case.
Prem Kumar Vijayan, a professor of the English department of Hindu College, and Rakesh Ranjan, a professor in the Economics department of Shri Ram College of Commerce, have been summoned to the NIA’s Delhi office on 14 February.
The summons have been issued under several sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
Speaking to The Quint, Karen Gabriel, Vijayan’s partner and head of the English department at St Stephen’s College, said, “Vijayan received a summon notice at around 6 PM on 13 August. He has been called for interrogation on 14 August.”
Both Babu and Vijayan are members of the defence committee for the release of GN Saibaba, an English teacher with 90 percent disability, who has been charged under the UAPA and is lodged at the Nagpur central jail.
Babu was the 12th person to be arrested in connection with the case. Civil rights activists and academicians such as Sudha Bharadwaj, Shoma Sen, Surendra Gadling, Mahesh Raut, Arun Ferreira, Sudhir Dhawale, Rona Wilson, Vernon Gonsalves, Varavara Rao, Anand Teltumbde and Gautam Navlakha are fighting to be released on bail over health concerns amid a pandemic.
Soon after the summons, many took to social media to condemn the “witch-hunting” of academicians and activists by the NIA.
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