Former BHU department head hires hitman to kill his successor after losing post

It reads like a thriller script, yet this is grim reality. A shocking revenge plot involving a former Banaras Hindu University (BHU) professor, a hired contract killer and a brutal campus attack has left the academic community in turmoil. The alleged mastermind, Budati Venkatesh Lu, former head of the Telugu department, remains at large after reportedly arranging a violent assault on his successor, Prof Challa Sriramachandra Murthy, who survived the July 28 ambush with fractures in both arms, as per a TOI report.

According to Varanasi police, cited by TOI, the conspiracy unfolded after Lu lost his departmental headship following a complaint filed by Murthy. Investigators revealed that Lu allegedly enlisted a network of accomplices, including a former research scholar and an assistant professor from another university, to execute the attack.

The breakthrough came with the arrest of alleged hitman Pramod Kumar, alias Ganesh Pasi, from Prayagraj, who was wounded in the leg during a police shootout near Dafi in Varanasi. Hours earlier, authorities had detained Bhutpur Bhaskar, a former research scholar from Telangana’s Narayanpet district, accused of coordinating the assailants. Another suspect, Vedant Bhushan Mishra of Jaunpur, was arrested earlier in the probe.

ADCP Kashi Zone T Saravanan was cited by TOI as saying that Bhaskar admitted to maintaining contact with Lu since 2016. Investigators claim Bhaskar was introduced to Mohammed Qasim Babu, an assistant professor at Kaimur University, who allegedly encouraged retaliation against Murthy.