Principal of a private Pharma college, who was set on fire by a former student succumbed to injuries on Saturday morning. The shocking incident took place last week when the accused, Ashutosh Shrivastava, 24, allegedly poured petrol and set the principal on fire over a delay in receiving his B. Pharma marksheet.
Vimukta Sharma (54) was the principal of BM College of Pharmacy located in Simrol area in Indore. The incident took place on February 20 and she had been battling for her life since then. She had reportedly suffered 90 per cent burn injuries.
“The principal has succumbed to her injuries during treatment. We found that the student had failed in the 7th semester,” Superintendent of Police (Rural) Bhagwat Singh Virde was quoted by ANI.
Soon after the incident, principal's daughter Devanshi alleged inefficiency from the part of Indore police as they did not act on the complaint regarding the threatening messages received by the principal.
"Shrivastava had sent my mother threatening messages on WhatsApp before setting her on fire. She was too tense after that (on receiving messages). A complaint was lodged with the police," Devanshi told PTI. “It is unfortunate the police did not take any action on the complaint. Had the police taken prompt action, my mother would not have been harmed,” she added.
The officials informed that Srivastava has been booked with the stringent National Security Act (NSA) as per an order issued by Indore Collector Ilayaraja T.
"During the probe, we found two to three complaints were made against Srivastava by the pharmacy college authorities, the woman principal and other staff, who claimed the accused was threatening suicide," Bhagwat Singh Virde told PTI.
The SP also said that ASI Sanjeev Tiwari has been suspended for alleged negligence in the investigation on the complaints received.
"The accused, who was held on the day of the incident... is mentally sound and it has come to light that he carried out the act as part of a conspiracy," the SP said.
As per police, Srivastava claimed that he cleared the B.Pharma exam in July 2022, but despite several requests, the management of BM College of Pharmacy was not giving him his marksheet.
However, the college authorities refuted the allegations and said that Srivastava has criminal antecedents and was not coming to collect the marksheet despite reminders.
