A Dalit research scholar enrolled with Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gorakhpur University drank poison on Thursday evening accusing two teachers of caste slurs and threats and the vice-chancellor of inaction over his complaints.

Deepak Kumar’s attempted suicide bears close parallels with the suicide of Dalit PhD student Rohith Vemula, who hanged himself inside a University of Hyderabad hostel in January 2016 alleging victimisation by the administration because of his caste.

Deepak, who doctors said was out of danger, had shot a three-minute video on his mobile phone and shared it with a WhatsApp group after drinking insecticide.

In the video, the PhD scholar in philosophy alleges that dean of arts C.P. Srivastava and philosophy department head Dwarika Nath had for the past three months been caste-shaming him and threatening to prevent him from completing his thesis.

After seeing the video, two students rushed to Deepak’s rented room in Gorakhpur city’s Milandpur area and found him unconscious in his bed. They took him to a private hospital, from where he was referred to Baba Raghav Das Medical College. He is under 72 hours’ observation.

Pro-vice-chancellor S.K. Dixit said he had removed Nath from his post. “A committee headed by me will probe the case and the guilty university members will be suspended,” he said.

Chief proctor Gopal Prasad said: “We have informed the police.”

Deepak, who is from Raghopatti in Chauri Chaura, 30km from the city, had enrolled in the PhD course in April after earning his BA and MA from the same university.

“The other teachers of the department were annoyed with me because they didn’t want me to choose D.N. Yadav as my PhD supervisor,” he says in the video without elaborating.

“Srivastava and Nath would curse me every day and threaten they wouldn’t let me finish my PhD.”

Deepak says he had complained to vice-chancellor V.K. Singh on September 6 but he didn’t act.

“Some people stopped me at the department gate on September 18 and threatened to kill me if I lodged any more complaints against Srivastava and Nath,” he alleges.

Deepak says these men were outsiders whom he didn’t know, and speculates that Singh must have told the two teachers about his complaint.

Nath told reporters: “I never misbehave with my students. Deepak’s supervisor is provoking him to blame me for his problems.”

He added: “I had stopped the fellowship of Yadav’s son Manoj because he had furnished forged documents to claim he belonged to the non-creamy (OBC) layer.”

Srivastava too denied the allegations and said it was a conspiracy against him.

Gorakhpur district magistrate Vijayendra Pandiyan said: “A two-page suicide note was found in Deepak’s room. A probe is in progress.”

Gorakhpur is the hometown of chief minister Yogi Adityanath. It is believed that no appointment takes place at the university without his consent.