Indian-origin lecturer cleared of murder charge

Dr Devinder Sivia, an Indian-origin Mathematics lecturer at St John’s college, Oxford, has been cleared of charge of killing his longtime friend and associate Prof Steven Rawlings, an internationally acclaimed astrophysicist after the Oxford Coroner’s Court declared it as accidental death.

The two academicians had been friends for 30 years and had published a book together in 1999 called Foundations of Science Mathematics. Rawlings and Sivia had fallen out over academic matters while they were at the latter’s house after a meal at a local pub on January 11.

Rawlings died of a heart attack after Sivia restrained him in a headlock when he became aggressive and violent. The inquest heard Rawlings was being treated for mental health issues before his death.

The coroner recorded a verdict of accidental death. Sivia, 49, was arrested at the time but later released without charge.

Friends of the St Peter’s College fellow told the inquest he had been acting strangely few hours before the incident. Sivia told the inquest that he feared for his life when Rawlings attacked him “like a man possessed” after becoming delusional and paranoid. He has claimed that Rawlings punched him on the face. Sivia said: “All of a sudden he sat bolt upright with his fists closed and a menacing look in his eyes. Then he said quietly ‘I am going to kill you’.”