Retired MSU profs under SOG scanner

M S university MSU dons who retired over the last decade have come under the scanner of the district Special Operations Group SOG...

M S university MSU dons who retired over the last decade have come under the scanner of the district Special Operations Group SOG, which is probing the origins of the terror calls and letters threatening bomb blasts in Vadodara and other districts.

Twelve threat letters were mailed in the names of three professors of the MSU Business and Economics department. The SOG has officially asked the Heads of Department HoD of the varsity to furnish details of all professors who had retired over the last 10 years.

All the three dons named in the terror mail 8212; Seema Bakshi, J R Mohite and DV Baloni 8212; are from the Business and Economics department. The letters were sent to various temples, educational institutes and other public places in Jamnagar, Porbandar, Amreli, and Ankleshwar. In addition, Ambaji temple, Ahmedabad-based Bhadra Mandir and Dwarka Temple also received the threat letters, said Inspector K M Polra of SOG, Vadodara.

8220;Seven letters were sent in the name of Bakshi, two in the name of Baloni and three in the name of Mohite,8221; Polra said. Bakshi retired 12 years ago and is now based in Shimla, while the other two professors are still active in their fields. 8220;SOG suspects that the culprits may be well acquainted with the professors and could still be working in MSU, since he or she has mentioned the names of the retired professors,8221; Polra said.

SOG does not rule out the possibility that the main culprit is someone who was or is still with the Business and Economics Department of MSU, said Inspector S M Alsika, SOG Vadodara. Meanwhile, D V Baloni, one of the three professors confirmed that SOG has queried him in this connection.

Parimal Vyas, who was the officiating dean of MSU Commerce faculty confirmed that the SOG had sent an official communiqueacute; seeking the details of retired professors. Polra said, 8220;The communiqueacute;, along with the terror letters, was sent to all HoDs so that they could analyse the handwriting in the letters. Their inputs will be valuable since they are in constant touch with students, clerks as well as teachers.8221;

The postal seal on the terror letters showed that most of these were mailed from Raopura area of the city, he said. The letters have been written mostly in Hindi in a scribbled running handwriting and are not more than a paragraph. Polra said: 8220;There is no good usage of vocabulary and the letters are largely a jumble. Atankwad, SIMI, Jihad, Turkistan, Abu Bashar and Bomb Rakha Hai are some of the words which are common to the letters. In addition, the letters also mention that SIMI has received Rs 1.5 lakh from Abu Bashar.8221;