Former Visva-Bharati VC questioned on controversial plaques at Santiniketan

A total of five cases have been filed against Former Visva-Bharati vice-chancellor Bidyut Chakraborty, whose controversy-marked tenure ended earlier this month

Former Visva-Bharati vice-chancellor Bidyut Chakraborty was questioned by the police on Wednesday in two cases, including one related to the installation of plaques to commemorate UNESCO's world heritage tag to Santiniketan, officials said.

A team of three policemen led by the officer-in-charge of Santiniketan police station Kasturi Mukherjee visited Chakraborty's residence in Bolpur in Birbhum district, and started questioning him, they said.

The other case he is being interrogated relates to some objectionable comments he allegedly made against Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, they added.

A total of five cases have been filed against Chakraborty, whose controversy-marked tenure ended earlier this month.

On Monday, he was interrogated in three cases. Two cases relate to his comments regarding Goddess Durga and the Bengali community, while one is over relocation of an e-rickshaw stand around the campus, officials said.

"The entire interrogation process is being video-taped, which will be submitted to court," an official said.

Earlier, Chakraborty moved the Calcutta High Court seeking relief in the cases. However, the HC directed the police to interrogate him at his home but not take any strict measures.

Santiniketan, where Tagore built Visva-Bharati over a century ago, was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in September.

The varsity installed three plaques to commemorate it, but the plaques did not have Tagore's name, and instead those of PM Narendra Modi, who is the chancellor, and then vice-chancellor Chakraborty. The incident triggered a political furore with CM Banerjee, the opposition BJP and several noted personalities criticising Chakraborty.

Later, the Santiniketan Trust filed a police complaint against the state's only central varsity, saying Chakraborty did not take permission before installing one of the plaques on land owned by it.