College principal who was set on fire by former student for not giving marksheet, succumbs to injuries

24-year-old former student Ashutosh Srivastava was not coming to collect his marksheet despite several reminders.

A principal of a private college who was set on fire by a former student died on Saturday morning in Indore, Madhya Pradesh. A police assistant sub-inspector in Indore has been placed under suspension for alleged negligence of duty in connection with a case in which an ex-student set ablaze the woman principal of a pharmacy college, leaving her battling for life with 80 per cent burns, an official said on Friday.

Principal Vimukta Sharma (54) was set on fire by former student Ashutosh Srivastava (24) in Simrol area on February 20 allegedly as the latter had not got his B.Pharma marksheet, as per police.

Srivastava has been slapped with the stringent National Security Act (NSA) as per an order issued by Indore Collector Ilayaraja T, the official informed.

"During the probe, we found two to three complaints were made against Srivastava by the pharmacy college authorities, the woman principal and other staff, who claimed the accused was threatening suicide," Superintendent of Police (Rural) Bhagwat Singh Virde told PTI.

"ASI Sanjeev Tiwari has been suspended for alleged negligence in the investigation of these complaints. The accused, who was held on the day of the incident, is being questioned. He is mentally sound and it has come to light that he carried out the act as part of a conspiracy," the SP said.

As per police, Srivastava has claimed he cleared the B.Pharma exam in July 2022, but despite several requests, the management of BM College of Pharmacy was not giving him his marksheet.

Student was pressuring her to withdraw old case

However, refuting the allegations, the college authorities said Srivastava, who has criminal antecedents, was not coming to collect his marksheet despite several reminders. They said he was putting undue pressure on the principal 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.

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.