Visva-Bharati authorities on Saturday night suspended assistant drama professor Rajesh K.V., also the general secretary of the Adhyapak Sabha, on charges of neglect of duty.

Varsity sources said Rajesh, a native of Kerala, who joined Visva-Bharati in 2012, was accused of visiting the academics and research section of the varsity “almost every day”.

“The undersigned is directed to communicate that Sri Rajesh K.V., Assistant professor, department of Rabindra Sangit, Dance and Drama, Sangit Bhavana, is placed under suspension with immediate effect,” the order signed by officiating registrar Ashok Mahato read.

However, a source said: “There were allegations that he is being targeted for initially refusing to sign a petition prepared by authorities against a colleague.”

Popular on campus as Rajesh Venugopal, he is the second teacher to be suspended after Sudipta Bhattacharyya, the president of Visva-Bharati University Faculty Association and a critic of certain activities of vice-chancellor Bidyut Chakrabarty. Bhattacharyya, an economics professor of renown, had been suspended in January.

Since the start of the year, the varsity’s relationship with some of its “dissenting” faculty members has been rocky.

On February 26, teachers of the English department were allegedly “confined” by authorities in a bid to grab a copy of a mass petition written to President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the state of affairs within the varsity. The varsity authorities had later rejected the charge.

All 10 teachers were recently showcased regarding their “absence” based on their “identifical undertakings” admitting to their absence, which a teacher said was “dictated” by the authorities.

In a separate development, around eight teachers of the physics and philosophy departments — who were earlier showcaused — were chargesheeted for alleging that their counterparts from the English department were illegally confined on February 26 and for filing what varsity authorities termed “false police complaints” in the matter.

“The situation on the campus can be understood easily as Dulal Ghosh, the nominee of Prime Minister and university Chancellor Narendra Modi in the varsity’s executive council, sat in protest with pensioners recently (when varsity authorities scrapped their free health consultation at Pearson hospital,” said a varsity official.