Visva-Bharati on Thursday night issued letters to nine senior teachers informing them that they would have to face a probe for their “misconduct” in connection with alleged confinement of at least a dozen English teachers for six hours by varsity officials in the presence of vice-chancellor Bidyut Chakrabarty in February this year.

Officials said it was the first time in recent memory that nine senior teachers of the varsity would face a board of inquiry at the same time.

However, at least 13 teachers and employees of the varsity had been served suspension orders, while several others faced punishments like termination, salary cut and non-payment of retirement benefits ever since Chakrabarty took over as the VC in November 2018.

“The officiating registrar of the varsity has sent letters to nine faculty members, saying they would have to face a board of inquiry that consists of several officials, including a few retired people who are perceived close to Chakrabarty,” said a senior varsity professor.

The nine teachers are from the departments of English, philosophy and physics.

Sources said the English teachers had allegedly been confined by the varsity authorities in a bid to collect a copy of a mass petition that some faculty members had written to Prime Minister and Chancellor Narendra Modi and President Ram Nath Kovind to complain about the manner in which Chakrabarty was running the varsity.

After six hours, a teacher of the English department had informed his colleagues about the confinement and around a dozen teachers had come forward to rescue those in alleged detention. Two senior teachers had also lodged a police complaint against the officials.

The complainants had accused the varsity authorities of illegally detaining their colleagues.

The varsity, however, denied the charge of confinement and claimed that the English teachers were attending an official meeting.

Visva-Bharati public relations officer Anirban Sircar did not take calls or reply to a WhatsApp message regarding the varsity’s decision to summon the teachers before a board of inquiry.