IMPHAL: The irate community of the Centre-run Manipur University (MU) has demanded an apology from BJP candidate of Inner Manipur Lok Sabha seat, RK Ranjan, for his claim that suspended vice-chancellor (VC) Adya Prashad Pandey was innocent of the charges levelled against him.According to the varsity community, Ranjan claimed at a recent local television channel discussion that Pandey was innocent according to a report of the inquiry committee set up to investigate the charges levelled against the ousted VC.The MU Teachers' Association (MUTA) argued how did Ranjan, also a spokesperson for the Manipur unit BJP, come to know such report when it was submitted to the high court in a sealed cover and that the matter was still pending there.Ranjan, however, told TOI on Saturday that he did not comment on the subject during the television discussion as a BJP candidate. "At the time of of the discussion, I was not allotted the BJP ticket and I just expressed my opinion as a spokesperson for the party," he added. Ranjan, a noted environmentalist and former registrar of MU, finished third in the last Lok Sabha polls.MU had been on the boil for four months last year after its students, teachers and staff members agitated on the campus here demanding ouster of Pandey, who is said to be a close relative of a top BJP leader. The varsity community accused Pandey of administrative and financial irregularities. The suspended VC had faced an independent probe set up to investigate the charges.Taking into account the volatile law and order gripping on the varsity campus, The President of India, in his capacity as a visitor to MU, had suspended Pandey in September. The crisis ended on October 11 after the Manipur high court appointed former state chief secretary, Jarnail Singh, the administrator of the university to discharge the functions of the VC.The MUTA demanded that Ranjan must clarify within three days on his claim that Pandey was innocent and that he knew the content of the sealed report. Though the Manipur University Students' Union had also sought a public apology from Ranjan on his claim, he has not made it till date, said the MUTA statement. Ranjan's claim has created apprehensions in public that the government was taking all efforts to save Pandey, the varsity teachers alleged.

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