Second panel member quits JU probe committee amid ABVP-Left clash fallout

The inquiry panel set up to investigate last week's violent clash at Jadavpur University suffered another blow on Wednesday, as a second member resigned within three days, deepening uncertainty over the probe even as tensions continued to spill onto other campuses across West Bengal. Arunasis Goswami, vice-chancellor of Babasaheb Ambedkar Education University, submitted his resignation from the panel to Jadavpur University Vice-Chancellor Chiranjib Bhattacharya on Wednesday morning.

His exit follows that of Professor Subha Shankar Sarkar, vice-chancellor of Netaji Subhas Open University, who had been appointed committee chairman before stepping down on August 24. Sarkar's resignation came after objections from the RSS-affiliated teachers' body, Akhil Bharatiya Rashtriya Shaikshik Mahasangh (ABRSM), which flagged his past ties to the West Bengal School Service Commission, an institution dogged by corruption allegations under the previous government.

The panel was constituted to probe the pre-dawn violence of August 20, when ABVP supporters, armed with lathis and sticks, stormed the campus around 2 a.m., tearing down and torching posters belonging to Left-affiliated student unions. The group alleged its members had earlier been assaulted during a general body meeting of the Faculty of Engineering and Technology Students' Union. Rival rallies followed through the day, forcing police to erect barricades to keep the factions apart.

At least four FIRs have since been filed at the local police station, one by university authorities over the campus vandalism, cross-complaints lodged by the SFI and ABVP against each other, and a separate complaint over the assault on ABVP supporters. Police on Tuesday questioned university registrar Selim Box Mandal, whom the ABRSM has accused of leaking confidential university information to outsiders.

On Wednesday, ABVP workers staged a protest at the 8B Bus Stand opposite the university's Gate No. 2, renewing their demand that the National Investigation Agency take over the probe. The unrest has not stayed confined to Jadavpur. Presidency University, Calcutta University and Medinipur College have all reported friction between ABVP activists and rival student groups in recent days.

The volatility escalated further on Wednesday night at West Bengal State University, where ABVP and Trinamool Congress supporters clashed over arrangements for the Rakhi Bandhan festival. The ABVP alleged that Trinamool supporters had abducted and assaulted one of its students the previous night, and that further attacks followed when they protested, allegedly because the vice-chancellor had allotted festival funds to the ABVP unit this year. Trinamool supporters countered that they were ambushed while preparing for the event. Several people were injured, prompting an FIR from university authorities. Duttapukur police arrested four Trinamool supporters in connection with the incident.