Madhya Pradesh: College principal set on fire by 24-year-old former student, accused held

MP news: In a shocking incident, a former student of a private college allegedly set ablaze the institute's 54-year-old principal over a mark sheet. The incident took place in Madhya Pradesh's Indore on Monday. The 24-year-old former student, Ashutosh Shrivastava, has been arrested. 

The principal, Vimukta Sharma, was seriously injured after Shrivastava allegedly poured petrol on her and set her on fire over a mark sheet. Vimukta has suffered 80 per cent burns and her condition is still critical, an official of the city's Choithram Hospital told PTI.

Meanwhile, the college on Tuesday said that the former student was pressuring the principal to withdraw an old case against him. The incident happened at BM College of Pharmacy in the Simrol area.

According to the management of the institute, Shrivastava was putting undue pressure on the principal. He was pressuring her to withdraw a four-month-old case of a knife attack on a professor of the institute in a dispute over a mark sheet. 

According to police, Shrivastava attacked Vimukta when she was plucking bilva patra (a leaf offered to Lord Shiva) on the campus after teaching hours. Shrivastava has been booked under Indian Penal Code (IPC) section 307 (attempt to murder), they said.

Officials quoted the accused as saying that he passed the B. Pharma examination in July 2022, but despite many demands, the college management was not giving him his mark sheet, a charge rejected by the college.

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Rakesh Sharma, secretary of the Patel Education Society that runs the college, told PTI, "Our college has no role in the withholding of Srivastava's mark sheet. It is the responsibility of the Rajiv Gandhi Technological University, Bhopal, to issue the mark sheets to the passed students."

He accused Shrivastava of injuring a college professor with a knife about four months ago over the mark sheet dispute. Sharma said that Shrivastava was arrested in that case and was released on bail.

"Shrivastava, after his release from jail, was putting undue pressure on the lady principal and other staff of the college to withdraw the case registered against him," he said.

Superintendent of Police (Country) Bhagwat Singh Virde said that the accused himself suffered 25 per cent burns during the attack on the principal and was admitted to a hospital after his arrest. The accused is out of danger now, said the SP.

(With inputs from PTI)