Panel head’s ‘no’ to probe complaint against Dhawankar

Nagpur: In another twist in the case of Nagpur University department of mass communication former head Dharmesh Dhawankar, the inquiry committee appointed to probe the extortion complaint against him has expressed its inability to investigate. Dhawankar himself too has failed to submit his reply to the charges of extortion levelled against him by seven HODs of various departments even after the extended deadline.
NU officials said the panel appointed by vice chancellor Subhash Chaudhari under Dr Ambedkar College principal Pravina Khobragade had refused to do the job, citing pressure from various quarters in the university and outside. Ganesh Kedar from NU mathematics department, Payal Thaware from NU law department, and a NU deputy registrar were the other members on the panel.
Khobragade submitted a letter to the VC about her decision a couple of days back. Despite repeated calls and text messages by TOI in this regard, Khobragade refused to reply. Sources said she was under constant pressure ever since her name was announced in the case. The VC also failed to respond to TOI’s text message in this regard.
The NU officials disclosed that Dhawankar’s close ally, who retired as a registrar, was going all out to help the former. The latter not only approached a Union minister in Delhi but also former guardian minister in this regard. Both ministers assured to bail out Dhawankar. The ex-guardian minister had advised both sides to mutually resolve the issue to ensure that it does not reach the forthcoming assembly or council. The former registrar, a powerful figure in NU circles, had bailed out Dhawankar twice in the past, from similar accusations of financial misappropriation.
Even the panel under Khobragade was constituted only after deputy chairman of legislative council Neelam Gorhe took cognizance of the issue and shot off a letter to the VC to suspend Dhawankar and appoint a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the serious charges against him.
According to NU officials, even the VC and pro-VC Sanjay Dudhe were making efforts to hush up the matter and trying that it does not find its way into assembly and council.
Earlier too, VC had tried his best to suppress the alleged harassment case of two PhD students by the Hindi department head. It was only after TOI’s series of reports that he was forced to appoint a panel under a retired judge of the family court.