Nearly a hundred teachers, students and employees of the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Bangalore, on Tuesday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to facilitate a fresh probe into the suspected lynching of Tabrez Ansari in Jharkhand.

While the IIMB community had not been impervious to events unfolding in the country, this is probably the first time in recent memory that those associated with a premier management school have reacted unequivocally to a suspected lynching.

“We the undersigned faculty, staff, and students of IIM Bangalore express shock and dismay over how Jharkhand police have handled the lynching of Tabrez Ansari,” said the appeal emailed to the Prime Minister.

“We urge you to act swiftly and decisively by directing the state government to institute a fresh probe. It is the constitutional duty of the State to protect the life and liberty of all citizens,” the appeal added.

Police in Jharkhand, governed by the BJP, have been accused of converting the charge against the accused from murder into the relatively milder culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

In June, Tabrez, accused of theft, died a few days after being assaulted by the mob that forced him to chant “Jai Shri Ram” and “Jai Hanuman”.