Santipur, July 7: A state-aided college teacher attached to the Santipur College in Nadia was allegedly beaten up by a section of students with the support of outsiders as he refused to award some construction works of development projects inside the campus to a contractor of their choice.
Ramkrishna Mondal, 51, who teaches history, was punched and hit with firearms by a group of youths on Friday a little after he entered the teachers’ room for a break after a class.
The “students” had called Mondal for a talk outside the teachers’ room and begun to shower punches ruthlessly targeting his face and head as soon as he came out of the teachers’ room. He fell unconscious and suffered multiple blows to the head and chest. The teacher, who was profusely bleeding, was rescued by some colleagues, who took him to Santipur State General Hospital.
Two non-teaching staff of the college were also allegedly beaten up by the “students” when they tried to rescue Mondal. They also allegedly blocked the college entrance to stage a demonstration when Mondal was being taken to the hospital accusing him of abusing a female student. To avoid fresh tension, his colleagues used a back door to take him to the hospital.
Sources in the college said that Mondal earned the wrath of a section of the students and local Trinamool leaders ever since he was appointed as the liaison officer by the governing body of the college to monitor all developmental works of the college. Recently, he played an instrumental role in issuing work orders to contractors after seeking bids through e-tenders.
“I tried to bring transparency in the project works and took the initiative to award works through e-tendering. The lowest bidder was awarded the work. However, some students who have proximity to some local contractors did not like it as they insisted on awarding the work to the contractors of their choice. But I refused to satisfy such illegal demand”, Mondal told The NfN.
College sources said Mondal also objected to free admission of students on political recommendation depriving genuine students.
The college principal, Suchismita Sannyal, acknowledged Mondal’s positive role but claimed ignorance about the actual reason behind the attack. “As a teacher, I am hurt to witness a teacher being beaten up by students inside campus. I don’t know the reason behind the attack. Let the police find out the actual reason behind the attack and will extend all necessary support”, she said over the phone.
Meanwhile, police have begun a probe based on a complaint lodged by Mondal. Mondal has named four youths in his complaint apart from mentioning the involvement of unidentified others. A probing team of Santipur police visited the campus and retrieved the CCTV footage.
An officer of Santipur police said, “CCTV footage is being scanned to identify the perpetrators. No person has been arrested so far”.