Student tries to burn teacher

 
It was a sheer providence that the teacher-in-charge, K Adhikary, survived the attempt on his life as the match stick thrown at him narrowly missed the pool of petrol.

The college staff, who were initially overwhelmed by the suddenness of the incident, finally mustered courage and overpowered the student Chand Prakash Singh and took him away, police said.

Interestingly, the student had brought petrol in a mineral water bottle to evade detection and poured half of the content on the teacher before emptying the bottle on himself. Singh was accompanied by many other students who barged into the office of the in charge to submit a memorandum. 

This is the first incident of its kind in Kolkata, which has a chequrered history of student violence dating back to the troubled 70s when a student made a similar abortive bid on the life of a teacher inside the college campus.

According to the police, about 75 students of Heramba Chandra College in south Kolkata, reportedly belonging to the All India Students’ Federation Bloc (the student’s wing of the Forward Bloc), entered the college on Monday afternoon with sticks and rods to submit a deputation to Adhikary. They kept aside the missiles before barging into the room of the in-charge to get the students of their choice admitted to college.

When they were told that this would not be possible as it would be violating a standing court order and the directive of  Calcutta University, Singh turned restive and within a flash, poured petrol on Adhikary. 

“Even though match stick did not light up, I felt afraid and assured them of issuing the forms from Tuesday. This I had to do under compulsion. A notice has been served for an indefinite closure of the college from Tuesday till the governing body meets and takes a decision,” Adhikary told Deccan Herald here. 

Most of the students, it was learnt, had already passed out and been running a racket of admission against money. Police are now looking for the accused, who went missing later.