Brody's Notes... Journalists Arrested In Connection With Gay Professor's Death

Professor Srinivas Ramchandra Siras  Photo By Reuters

By Brody Levesque (Washington DC) Apr 20 | Two people have been arrested in connection with the death of Aligarh Muslim University's (AMU) Professor  Srinivas Ramchandra Siras, police said on Monday. Adil Murtaza and Shiraz, both local journalists, carried out a sting operation on the AMU professor.

Sixty-two-year-old Siras, a reader in Modern Indian Languages, was found dead in his private apartment outside the university on April 7. Siras, who hailed from Maharashtra and taught Marathi, was placed under suspension by AMU Vice Chancellor P K Abdul Aziz on charges of homosexuality at his house inside the campus after a sting operation by a television channel which exposed him having sexual relations with a rickshaw puller. 

The Allahabad High Court later revoked the suspension and ordered his reinstatement after he filed an appeal against the university action.

The New Delhi based Indian News Service reports:   

The Aligarh police on Monday arrested two individuals who had carried out a “sting” operation on deceased Aligarh Muslim University Reader S R Siras.

Adil Murtaza and Shiraz used to represent a news channel but the channel has since clarified that they had been fired before the sting could be carried out. They were allowed bail on personal surety by a city court later in the day. They were charged with forcibly entering Siras’s residence on February 8 evening and causing physical harm.

The police are also on the lookout for a third individual, identified to be a certain Anshu, who is mentioned in the FIR filed by Siras.

“We have also registered separate cases under Sections 406 and 420 of the IPC for breach of trust and cheating respectively based on the complaint by a TV channel. These men were posing as the reporters of the channel,” said SP City Maan Singh Chauhan, adding that the channel had also complained that the men had not returned their identity cards despite being fired.

“We are also looking into the blackmail angle wherein Siras was probably filmed to be blackmailed. When he refused to give in to their demands, these men went public with the clip,” said a top police official.

He also revealed that the two arrested men had not confessed to the blackmail charge. A police team also met the Chairperson of the Modern Indian Languages Department Sheikh Mastan on Monday.

Police said they would meet all members of the MIL Department in the coming days. However, police officials would not comment as to whether any university official would be arrested soon. “University officials are cooperating with the investigation,” was all what an official would say.

Zubair Khan (proctor), Farheed Ahmad Khan (deputy proctor), Rahat Abrar (public relations officer), and NAK Durrani (media adviser) have been booked under various sections of the IPC.

Siras, who was found dead under mysterious circumstances on April 7, was suspended on February 9 by the administration for having consensual sex with a rickshawpuller.