The murder of a former vice chancellor of one of Karnataka's first private universities, the Alliance University, at a play ground near his residence in north Bengaluru on the night of October 15 while he was taking a post dinner walk, by men allegedly hired by one of the owners and current chancellor of the university, has exposed an ongoing factional family feud at the Alliance University – between two highly educated brothers – for control of the university. The former vice chancellor of the Alliance University Ayyappa Dore, 52, an aspiring politician and real estate dealer, was found lying in a pool of blood with 17 stab wounds at a play ground near his house in the early hours of the morning of October 16. His wife Pavana Dibbur alerted the police about her missing husband after she found out that he had not returned home after his night walk. Within 24 hours of the murder the Bengaluru police arrested two persons for the crime based on the analysis of cell phone usage around the crime scene at the time of the murder, CCTV footage and analysis of circumstances surrounding the murder. One of the arrested persons was Suraj Singh, 32, an executive at the Alliance University and the second was the university's chancellor Sudhir Angur, 53, an IIT Mumbai graduate and post graduate diploma holder in business management from IIM, Ahmedabad - according to his official profile. ``We were able to make headway quite soon because there is already a dispute within the Alliance University. It facilitated our investigation. We were able zero in on Sudhir Angur who lead us to Suraj Singh. When interrogated Singh broke down and confessed that it was he who at the behest of Sudhir Angur carried out the killing along with four others,'' Bengaluru police commissioner Bhaskar Rao said while announcing the first arrests on Thursday. The university executive Suraj Singh and four others ``studied the behaviour pattern of the victim and under the guidance of Sudhir Angur (the chancellor) this murder was carried out,'' Rao said. Police are yet to show the arrest of the four men who allegedly assisted the Alliance University executive in carrying out the murder of the former vice chancellor but police sources said that they had found sufficient evidence to consider the case cracked – Suraj Singh's cell phone was active near the crime at the time of the murder and a call was made to Angur soon after the murder for instance. The motive for the murder of the former vice chancellor of the Alliance University – who contested and lost the assembly elections in Karnataka in 2018 as a candidate of his own party, the Jana Samanyara Party, from the Muddebihal constituency in north Karnataka – has been cited by the police as being part of a long feud between the Angur brothers who created the university. ``Sudhir Angur (the current chancellor) and his brother Madhukar Angur (a former chancellor) are in a dispute over the ownership of the university. Sudhir Angur decided that Ayyappa Dore was shifting his loyalties towards Madhukar Angur and he felt that if he (Ayyappa Dore) was not eliminated he would lose control of the university,'' commissioner Bhaskar Rao said. The election affidavit filed last year by the murdered ex vice chancellor reveals that Sudhir Angur had borrowed Rs one crore from Ayyappa Dore. Incidentally, police say the contract offered for killing Dore was worth Rs one crore with each of the five assailants promised Rs 20 lakh each. The murder incidentally is the latest turn in a long running feud between the arrested Sudhir Angur and his older brother Madhukar Angur, 65, who according to his Linkedin profile is a former business management professor at the Flint School of Management at the University of Michigan with qualifications from the University of Texas, Arlington and IIM (A) – for control of Alliance. The feud in the Angur family between the brothers has seen a plethora of cases and counter cases filed against each ranging from the criminal – rape, forgery, criminal intimidation, assault – to civil suits for control of the Alliance University. Over the last few years there have been several instances where the rival groups have used force on the campus to wrest control of the university. At one point when the Congress government was in power between 2013-2018 in Karnataka the university was taken over by the state administration to restore order amid the infighting. A deputy commissioner was appointed administrator to ensure that the university which offers engineering and law courses apart from the business school runs effectively for the benefit of the nearly 7000 students enrolled for courses and the nearly 400 teachers employed on the nearly 27 acres property which the university owns on the outskirts of the city of Bengaluru. Started originally in 2005 as the Alliance Business School by Sudhir Angur with his sisters Mala Srinivas Gowda and Shaila Chebbi as directors the business school became a university in 2010 when the BJP was in power in Karnataka for the first time. The BJP leader Arvind Limbavalli who was the minister for higher education at the time piloted the Alliance University Bill (2010). There were reservations in the state legislature over the creation of the university (the Azim Premji University Bill was passed at the time) but the Alliance University Bill was referred to a joint select committee of the legislature and was eventually cleared and enacted for creation of the university. According to documents for multiple legal cases and counter cases (30 cases at the least) that have been filed since 2014 by the two warring factions the origin of the feud lies in a personal dispute in the family of Sudhir Angur – with his former wife (the sister of a well known Kannada film star). According to court documents Sudhir Angur was accused by his wife and in-laws of diverting funds from an education institution they ran in Bengaluru to create the Alliance Business School with his sisters as directors. Due to the matrimonial wrangle over property Sudhir Angur reportedly stayed away from the board of Alliance University and his older brother who was in the US offered to return to India to head the institution. In 2008 all the shares of the education firm was transferred to the US returned Madhukar Angur - who became the first chancellor of the university. When Angur was the chancellor the murdered Ayyappa Dore served for three years as the VC from 2010 to 2013. After he took control of the university Madhukar Angur allegedly went rogue – according to the Sudhir Angur faction. He reportedly cut off the rest of his family from the university and refused to distribute shares that were in his control with his sisters, their families and Sudhir Angur. According to the allegations that have played out in court Madhukar Angur married a 22-year-old niece around 2011 and transferred part of the shares to her and the duo allegedly siphoned off large amounts of funds of the university (allegedly over Rs 100 crore) to live a high life. The situation resulted in a series of cases and counter cases filed by the factions lead by the two Angur brothers – Madhukar Angur accused Sudhir Angur of forging signatures given to the ministry of company affairs to try to remove him as the head of the institution; Madhukar Angur was accused in early 2016 of rape by the mother of the niece whom he had married. In 2016 Sudhir Angur managed to oust Madhukar Angur from the university and wrest control while Madhukar Angur was facing the rape charges. On April 7, 2016 Alliance University dismissed Madhukar Angur from the university. Soon after Sudhir Angur became the chancellor. Over the last three years Madhukar Angur has been making attempts recapture control of the university through legal cases and even storming of the university in 2017. A local court issued an order restraining Madhukar Angur from entering the university or claiming to represent it in 2017. This order was upheld by the Karnataka high court in March 2018. ``Given this history of conflict, this situation (murder of Ayyappa Dore) is being made use of by Mr. Madhukar and this could be sheer foul play. Since the investigation is going on, it is not proper to opine regarding the role of Mr. Sudhir Angur,'' the registrar of the Alliance University Madhu Sudan Mishra said Thursday following the arrest of Sudhir Angur for the murder of Ayyappa Dore.
