Prof's murder: ABVP, NSUI trade charges

Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad and National Students Union of India on Saturday traded charges over the violence during student union polls in Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh, on August 26 that resulted in the death of Professor H S Sabharwal, accusing each other of being responsible for the incidents.

"Soon after the elections at Madhav College were cancelled, NSUI workers turned unruly and attacked some professors near one of the gates of the college," state ABVP secretary Surendra Sharma alleged while talking to reporters.

Claiming to possess a video CD that showed NSUI workers beating up Sabharwal, he said the footage also showed NSUI workers having a heated verbal exchange with the college principal and another professor, M L Nath.

Sharma claimed the CD, which showed policemen chasing away NSUI workers, was being distributed to TV channels to present the facts before the people.

Refuting the charges levelled by Sharma, NSUI leaders and Ujjain Congress president Batuk Shankar Joshi claimed the footage cited by the ABVP leader simply showed NSUI members arguing with some professors while Sabharwal was standing quite some distance away. They also claimed they had a CD that showed the actual assault on Sabharwal.

Joshi claimed Sabharwal was assaulted nearly 90 minutes after the incident being referred to by the ABVP leader. He also claimed that Sabharwal was beaten up by ABVP workers when he was leaving the college through the Mai Gate, resulting in his death later.