Homosexual professor's death can raise uncomfortable questions for AMU

The police investigation into the alleged suicide by a homosexual AMU professor could raise some "uncomfortable questions" for the university authorities, according to police sources.

The AMU authorities will have to explain why no official internal probe was conducted to trace the persons who reportedly orchestrated the sting at the residence of professor Srinivas Ramchander Siras on February 8, they said.

The body of Siras, 62, a reader in modern Indian languages, was found on April 7 lying on the bed in his private apartment outside the university after police broke open the door.

Siras, who hailed from Maharashtra and taught Marathi, was placed under suspension by AMU vice-chancellor PK Abdul Aziz on charges of homosexuality at his house inside the campus after a sting operation by a television channel exposed him having sexual relations with a rickshaw puller.

Maintaining that the probe could raise some uncomfortable questions for the university, police sources hinted that the holding of a selection committee for a professor's post which took place last month, during Siras's suspension period, could also throw some light on the entire episode.

Also, senior district police officers would have to explain why they failed to register an FIR on the basis of a written complaint filed by Siras against some senior AMU officials after the sting operation.

"The professor had submitted a rougly drafted application in English. He was then told to submit a properly drafted application," Aligarh superintendent of police Maan Singh Chauhan told PTI.

But before the police received such an application, Siras approached a court of law which ordered that an FIR be lodged immediately, he said. "We have no mala fide intentions and a full and fair investigation will now be conducted," Chauhan said.