Four professors of the Indian Institute of Technology-Kanpur (IIT-K) have been booked by police for allegedly harassing a Dalit faculty member of the institute's aerospace department.

The FIR against the four senior professors — Eshan Sharma, Sanjay Mittal, Rajiv Shekhar, CS Upadhyay — and an unidentified person has been filed under relevant sections of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, said superintendent of police (west) Sanjiv Suman.

The complainant, Subrahmanyam Saderla, who is also an alumnus of the institute, alleged that the accused professors and others spread rumours that he benefited from reservation and is not competent enough to answer questions.

He had also written a strongly-worded e-mail to the IIT director and the head of aerospace engineering department, Prof. A.K. Ghosh, drawing their attention towards alleged harassment, said an IIT official.