Visva-Bharati has begun the process of punishing two senior professors — known faces in the protests against several alleged wrongdoings of vice-chancellor Bidyut Chakrabarty — apparently after the duo submitted a memorandum against the VC to junior Union education minister Subhas Sarkar.

“Both of them were in a team to meet the Union minister and they submitted a memorandum against the VC. We suspect the move to punish them was taken because of that. The students who were suspended over the past six months also went with them and submitted to the minister separate letters with their demands on the same day. Now, we are waiting to see whether the VC goes after the students too,” said a senior professor.

Sudipta Bhattacharyya, the suspended economics professor and president of the Visva-Bharati University Faculty Association (VBUFA) received a letter from the varsity’s acting registrar Ashok Mahato on August 18 — the day he met Sarkar. Bhattacharyya was informed that a charge had been framed against him and a probe committee would be set up over allegations of leaking a show-cause notice issued to him to the print media.

Bhattacharyya was suspended in January. He spearheaded many a protest against the activities by Chakrabarty, including the organising of a pro-CAA lecture, and the “insult” of Nobel laureate Amartya Sen over a land-related issue.

Manas Maity, a senior physics professor who is also a known voice of protest against Chakrabarty’s alleged wrongdoings, received a letter on August 19, informing him about how a probe committee would be formed against him.

Manas Maity. File photo

The letter said he would not be allowed to enter his department, the central administrative office and the office of Siksha Bhavana, which houses the science departments. Maity had earlier been show-caused and charge-sheeted for various activities, including his role to “rescue” the teachers of varsity’s English department, who were allegedly confined in the central office.

Both Bhattacharyya and Maity declined comments because of a gag order issued by the varsity.

Visva-Bharati’s officiating public relations officer Anirban Sircar neither took calls nor replied to a text message from this newspaper. An official said both the decisions had been taken at the executive council meeting on August 14, four days before Sarkar visited the varsity.