Dipak Kumar Roy, the vice-chancellor of Raiganj University, fell ill on Wednesday morning after being allegedly confined to his chamber by non-teaching staff and supporters of the Trinamool Chhatra Parishad since Tuesday afternoon to protest his suspension of an employee.

Roy was admitted to the Raiganj government hospital.

Sources said that around four months back, Roy served a showcause notice to Tapan Nag, a non-teaching employee of the university and the president of the Raiganj University unit of Sara Bangla Trinamool Shiksha Bandhu Samiti.

Nag was accused of making anti-university comments.

“Nag replied to the notice. However, the VC suspended him in mid-November, saying the reply was unsatisfactory. Nag protested against the decision, backed by several other non-teaching staffers,” said a source.

On Tuesday, they allegedly confined the VC to his chamber. Reportedly, some TMCP supporters joined them.

Roy stayed in his chamber overnight. On Wednesday morning, he complained of illness and was taken to the hospital where doctors said his blood pressure was abnormal.

“They had confined me for almost 24 hours after which I fell ill. I will report the incident,” he said.

Refuting the charge, Bijoy Das, a representative of the Sara Bangla Trinamool Shiksha Bandhu Samiti, said the VC stayed in his chamber overnight on his own.

“He has been running the institution in a dictatorial way.... One of our non-teaching staff was suspended unethically. Yesterday (Tuesday), we reached in front of his chamber to meet him. He stayed inside throughout the night as we waited for him. Some cops were there. When he fell sick, we took him to the hospital,” said Das.

Krishna Kalyani, the TMC MLA of Raiganj, said he would speak to education minister Bratya Basu on the issue.