BHU ex-HoD hired killers to eliminate his successor

Time of India

3 days ago

Varanasi: A murderous attack on BHU's Telugu department head Prof Challa Sriramachandra Murthy on the campus on July 28 was done at the behest of the former head of the same department, Prof Budati Venkatesh Lu.
This came to light after the arrest of two accused persons -- Bhutpur Bhaskar, a former research scholar of the department, and Pramod Kumar, who was nabbed after a police encounter on Tuesday night.
While Bhaskar, who had arranged the assailants, was arrested from his native place in Narayanpet district of Telangana and brought on transit remand, the 'contract killer' Pramod Kumar alias Ganesh Pasi of Prayagraj, was arrested after a bullet injury in the leg near Dhaphi area late Tuesday night.
Another accused Vedant Bhushan Mishra of Jaunpur was arrested earlier.
Five remaining accused, including Lu, are still absconding. The hired killer assaulted Prof Murthy with an intention to kill, but he survived with fractures on both hands.
Speaking about the plan to attack Murthy, ADCP Kashi Zone T Saravanan said on Wednesday that on receiving information about the presence of an accused near Satkar Hotel between Dafi area, Lanka police station in charge Raj Kumar Sharma and his team arrived.
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On seeing police, the accused tried to escape after opening fire and in retaliatory firing by police, he suffered bullet injury in the leg and was nabbed and one firearm, live cartridges, empty shells, and cash were seized from him.
"Mishra was arrested first, after which police got clues about Bhaskar's involvement. When investigation progressed, Bhaskar divulged that he had been in contact with Lu since 2016. Lu invited Bhaskar to stay with him for a week when he met one Qasim Babu, assistant professor at Kaimur University, who wanted to join this department as assistant professor.
Qasim informed Lu that on the complaint of Murthy, Lu had lost the post of Telugu department head in BHU.
On Qasim Babu's provocation, Lu plotted to eliminate Murthy and urged Bhaskar to make arrangements for executing his plan before he returned to Telangana."
On Jul 25, Bhaskar, along with his friend Mohammed Qasim from Telangana, arrived in Varanasi by air to execute the plan to eliminate Murthy. They stayed at a hotel, and Qasim called Pramod to finalise the plan.
After this, Pramod hired Mishra, Suraj Dubey, Pradyuman Yadav and Vishal Yadav of Ghazipur district. Following the developments, they conducted a recce of Murthy and attacked him near Birla hostel on the university campus with iron rods when he was returning home on a motorcycle.
Murthy survived with fractured arms while the assailants fled the scene.
Confessing his involvement in the murder conspiracy, Pramod said Qasim was his old friend and he offered him money to kill Murthy. The ADCP said with the beginning of arrests in this episode, Lu absconded and also switched off his mobile numbers. Teams have been engaged to nab Lu and other accused in this case, including Suraj Dubey, Pradyuman Yadav, Vishal Yadav and Qasim.
BHU teachers staged a massive protest after Murthy was attacked.
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